Against the Cards
by klarolineagainnaturally
Summary: Again & again Caroline has watched Elena pair their friends up & delight them with long-term relationships. This has not been the case in regards to Caroline. She soon finds herself pulled towards newcomer Klaus when he is introduced to the group, but unfortunately, Elena has already decided she will fix him up with Cami, which leads Caroline to take attraction into her own hands.
1. Chapter 1

She could not help it. She just could not fucking help it. That bitch.

Elena sat there on the red, pillow-abundant couch with a smug face, admiring her handy work sitting across from her on a pair of wooden chairs. It had been easy to pair up Kol and Davina; their compatibility was just shining right in her face. The two were closely chatting to one another, their body language relaxed as her hands wandered up his torso. Kol chuckled, taking in Davina's beautiful smile as he listened contently. She grinned once again at her masterpiece.

Elena had perfectly straightened chestnut hair that cascaded down effortlessly. She sat next to her adoring, and otherwise boorish, boyfriend, Damon. He sat with his arm firmly around her waist to show his claim and batted his forehead against her shoulder playfully.

For all of the years they had been friends, Caroline and Elena had amassed a number of other friends surrounding them. Many had faded out of their growing group but a loyal few had stayed. It was easy to see Elena and Caroline paired together, and glued at the hip from a very young age, but then the boys came. For Caroline, she had dated around and eventually found a long lasting relationship with Tyler. However, she ultimately was not ready to settle down and become the housewife of a politician.

In Elena's case she started off with one brother but somehow ended up with the other. She could not judge her. Not openly anyway. Once Elena had started dating Damon, there was nothing better than love. The girl ranted and raved about how much she loved love and how great love would be if everyone had it. One by one she started pairing people up, forcing them together and meddling in others' businesses.

Every new person in their circle of friends was just another puzzle piece to her. Oh and how she would brag about her skills. Caroline would listen to her drone on and once Bonnie and Jeremy had gotten engaged it was like she thought she was Cupid incarnate.

When they met Davina, a recently dumped college graduate, Caroline was ecstatic. Finally there was someone Caroline could be friends with who was not in a relationship and who she would not have to talk to as if she was interviewing her on a talk show. 'So how is your relationship going?' she would ask and receive a 'Tom Cruise on The Oprah Winfrey Show' style response about how in love they were. Elena thought she was great and so did everyone else.

It was funny to Caroline, however, that Elena managed to find someone for everyone...except her. She wondered if it was on purpose but shrugged it off as her mind trying to find a reason to be bitter. She just didn't want to be the third wheel anymore.

Caroline sighed, twirling a strand of her blonde curls between two fingers. She was essentially in the middle of a mass date: Bonnie and Jeremy were leaning against the colourful, geometric-decorated wall, hands glued to each other's faces; Kol and Davina were still talking about whatever they talked about, and Matt had Rebekah by the waist, the two of them giggling like a pair of children in the doorway. She did not even want to _start_ thinking about Katherine and Stefan.

To help numb his pain after she dumped him for his own brother, Elena found a girl who was practically a carbon copy face-wise and that was all he needed. Though, to her credit Katherine was a bit more lively and mischievous. That was something Elena lacked.

She hated that she thought badly of her best friend but she could not help it. Everything was great between them but Caroline becoming single again, and her moping and disdain for love did not fit Elena's world view, which just made things weird.

The group's latest addition was nice for Caroline: Cami, the boring psychology student. She was not boring per se, but Caroline had nothing in common with her aside from sharing the same blonde hair colour. Cami was too serious and too intense when it came to light-hearted discussions. However, Caroline tolerated her addition as she was single and she needed someone to talk to without them getting it on with their partner mid-conversation.

"So basically, everyone was running around like headless chickens for the meeting with Aurora," Elena spoke loudly, expressing each word with hand gestures.

"Is the bottle opener next to you?" Caroline asked Cami in a hushed tone. The woman searched beside her but shrugged and apologised. Caroline sighed and turned to face back into the group conversation. She knew she had forgotten to bring something in from the Kitchen.

"But luckily I'd found it on some random flash drive and I basically saved everyone's asses!"

"Wow, Elena, you're practically a superhero," Caroline said incredulously. She smiled to try and convey some form of friendliness but it dropped as soon as Elena took her eyes away from her.

Elena laughed awkwardly, "I guess."

Caroline got up, looking down as she did so to hide the rolling of her eyes.

"I'm gonna go get the bottle opener if anyone wants me to get them a drink," she raised her head to smile warmly at them all.

Most of them shook their heads with the exception of Cami who asked for a glass of water. She accepted the request and quickly made her exit before Cami could explain for the billionth time her current study on alcohol and its effects on impulse control. Thrilling stuff in a school environment but Caroline came to chill out, not to take notes.

Caroline dragged her feet on the pale hardwood flooring on her way to the kitchen. She could hear that there was a brief knock on the door but now too far away she figured someone else would get it. The walls in Matt's house were relatively thin and the rooms were close enough together that Caroline could hear everything clearly. It was perfect for Rebekah, who delighted in overhearing people gossip.

Elena in particular shot up, rushing to open the door.

"Ah, that must be–," Kol noted aloud, breaking away from his conversation with Davina. He was cut off as the door opened, Elena exclaiming her greetings to the stranger.

"Klaus, I'm so glad you could make it," the brunette smiled warmly, patting the newcomer's shoulder before welcoming him into the living room.

"Guys, this is Klaus," she introduced him, gripping his arm in a friendly manner.

"Our devil of an older brother," Kol interjected with a smirk.

"The devil is I, I confess. I am sure Kol and Rebekah have brought me up several times to complain about my awful ways," he held a hand to his heart and grinned.

"Maybe once or twice but it was not without good reason," Rebecca answered, leading the group to share a good laugh.

"There's another one?" Caroline scoffed to herself in the kitchen, searching for the bottle opener in the many drawers.

How the group had acquired two pairs of siblings was a gradual occurrence. Elena dated Stefan for a while before dating Damon, but with Katherine in the picture they still hung out. As for the other pair, Kol became friends with Damon through baseball and despite their competitive relationship he started showing up to their weekly gatherings. Then once Rebekah had met Matt by chance, picking up a drunken Kol, the rest was history.

Caroline sneaked a glance behind her but only caught minor details: he was tall and wore a black, leather jacket, along with a red scarf around his neck. The group greeted him, shooting 'hey's and 'yo's from across the room.

"Matt, mate," Klaus started.

'Mate'. Caroline let out a quiet laugh. She still could not get used to hearing that, even with Kol around.

"Mind if I leave my six-pack in your fridge?"

Caroline's eyes widened, prompting her to quicken the search. It was not that she could not handle meeting someone new, but it was that she needed at least two drinks before she acted like she cared.

Where was that damn thing? She could have sworn she left it in the kitchen. Noticing an empty beer bottle on the counter, she eyed it up before moving it to the side.

"Aha, got you," she mumbled triumphantly and picked up the bottle opener. Matt's lucky bottle opener. The edges had started to rust and the picture of a football had peeled off half way. His sister gave it to him for his birthday not long before she died. He kept the damn thing on his key chain for two years after that. Out of all the things she had given him it was a bottle opener that kept him holding on.

Distracted by her thoughts she had not noticed the stranger at the door frame until he knocked on the counter top.

"Oh my gosh," Caroline squeaked, surprised by his appearance. She turned around, bottle opener held against her chest.

"Sorry, did not mean to scare you," he apologised with a slight laugh, "Didn't realise the gang was so large— any others hiding out?"

Caroline laughed, running her finger over the metal device in her hand, "Not that I can think of. I might have left a dead body or two around here somewhere though."

He chuckled, tilting his head, "And you are?"

"Caroline Forbes—Just Caroline," she said, scrunching her nose up playfully.

"Just Caroline? Should I leave the Forbes for a more formal occasion?" he teased, giving a cheeky wink.

She could only nod, cracking the smallest of smiles. When she looked at him she instinctively bit her lip. He had an intimidating aura about him and a fire in his eyes that seemed to loom over her.

They both stared at one another for a moment.

"And you're Klaus? Kol and Rebekah's brother," Caroline perked up, speaking happily.

Klaus cleared his throat and grinned, "I am discussed often then?"

"Ha...yeah, no," she replied flatly before breaking into laughter, "The walls aren't exactly soundproof here. I hear you're the devil?"

"Well, if that is what I need to be, then so be it," Klaus smirked, swinging his six-pack along with him as he walked to the refrigerator.

She pursed her lips, gripping the bottle opener tighter, and shifted in her spot. Her mouth felt dry all of a sudden and she struggled to keep her eyes on him.

It had been a long time since she had been so affected by someone's mere presence. Perhaps this was finally someone Elena had chosen for her? After all the mental complaining the long wait was because she wanted something perfect for her best friend?

"So, if you are not too attached to it, do you mind giving me the bottle opener?" he asked, taking one of his beers out of the pack.

"Uh, sure, of course," she answered, holding it out.

Klaus leaned in, grazing her hand as he took the opener. She shifted uncomfortably, unable to keep eye contact with him. She still held a smile on her face despite biting her bottom lip in an attempt to hide it.

With the crack of the lid he passed the opener back, resting it in her palm gently.

"Thanks. I'll...see you in the other room then. Nice meeting you, Klaus," she pulled her hand away, smiling slightly before making her exit.

"You too, love."

Caroline breathed out in relief on her way back to the living room. She had met the devil and he was attractive as hell. A quiet laugh escaped her. As hell.

The group was split into numerous conversations so she took her seat back on the floor with her back against the wall. Time for drinking. She hummed as she cracked open her bottle of beer, chugging it down like her life depended on it.

Midway through her chugging the handsome Klaus wandered in, his own bottle in hand, and searched for a space to sit. They made eye contact but her eyes swiftly averted.

Caroline wished he would take the place next to her but Elena was quick to take his arm again. She led him over to an empty space next to Cami, smiling delightfully at her work taking place.

"Here, sit next to Cami. She's incredibly smart so I'm sure you'll get along," the slim brunette informed him, a glint in her eye.

Caroline's expectant expression as she drank faltered. She lowered the bottle from her lips.

"Incredibly? Oh then I suppose I must find out more," Klaus pursed his lips as they attempted to tug out into a smile. He sat down and held out his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Cami," he said, his dimples appearing.

Caroline watched Cami blush and fumble over her words as she rambled on about herself.

She also watched Elena's smug expression form on her face.

Just another goddamn puzzle piece.

Elena turned her smile toward Caroline and got down next to her.

"Hey, Care," she said wistfully, "Don't they look good together?"

"I guess."

"Honestly, I thought it would be hard to find Klaus a girl but my powers are too strong," she laughed.

Caroline raised an eyebrow, "And Cami was the perfect match?"

Such a charming personality did not seem to match with the seriousness of Cami but perhaps Caroline was missing some traits that others saw in her.

"Definitely. I mean, you're the only other girl and well, that wouldn't work one bit."

"How so?" Caroline moved to crack another beer open.

"You're high strung, Care, and he's just too...Klaus. You two are too opposite for that to ever happen. Unlike you and Tyler, who really worked out great," Elena sighed before smiling, "I'm going to get myself a drink."

Caroline nodded with a bright smile and watched her friend leave. A look of disdain then formed on her face. High strung. That was something Tyler made sure she was aware of before he dumped her on the side of the road – both metaphorically and literally. Sure, she liked things to be certain way and perhaps sometimes she overdid it but she could be fun!

 _We wouldn't work? Wanna bet?_ She thought to herself.

A couple more beers down and Caroline was content. As much as she liked to argue that she was not a lightweight, her tipsy demeanour from three bottles of beer was a dead giveaway. It saved her a good amount of money though. Everyone else had slowly gotten down the path of tipsiness too. All but Cami of course. Music had also started to play; it seemed to be that kind of evening.

"So, Klaus, what do you do for a living?" Cami inquired.

"I work in HR for my father's company," he replied, swirling his beer gently around the bottle in his hand.

"You actually work for that asshole?" Caroline piped up, spitting her words out.

There was a pause.

She had been friends long enough with Rebekah and Kol to hear the horror stories of their cruel father. Even without them as friends the Mikaelson financing company was making a name for itself, and not in a good way.

Klaus turned his gaze towards her, sitting on the floor by herself. His expression was uncomfortable but he shook it off with a grin, "Well, it is a pain but it is also how I can afford my lifestyle."

"So you're okay with him laying off hundreds of people without warning? I mean, you probably pulled the trigger, right? Being in HR and all," she sat up to speak further, tilting her head.

"I do what I have to."

"I get it— just one of those rich kids trying to vie for daddy's attention. Meanwhile, you sleep around with whatever woman floats your boat, right? You should probably go to a therapist for that. Oh, hey! Cami can help you out there," Caroline rested her back against the wall, attempting to mask her pain when she hit her head.

Klaus clenched his jaw. His stare was pointing a few thousand daggers at her but seemed to suddenly soften into an amused expression.

Cami lifted her head, eyes wide, "Uh, well, I'm not sure you should be making assumptions about Klaus' relationship with his father or whether or not he sleeps around-."

"Are you kidding me? Klaus is a dog, I have never seen him with the same woman twice," Kol joked, sipping on his whiskey and earning a gentle slap on the wrist from Davina.

Ding ding ding. She got that spot on but unfortunately, it was something that sounded mighty appealing to Caroline.

"They did say I was the devil, did they not?" He reminded her shortly.

The two kept a firm eye contact as if they were in a mental standoff.

"Hey, guys, having fun?" a perky Elena made her way through from the hallway to clear the air.

Nope. She thought. Or...yes, rather. Strangely enough.

"Yeah, fine and dandy," Caroline replied through gritted teeth and a fake smile.

"You know," Elena started, her attention on Klaus and Cami, "You look like you're getting on amazingly well."

Cami laughed shyly, "Oh I don't know."

Ew. Caroline thought. Cami acting like a little school girl was not Cami.

"Yeah I thought your type would be someone more...well, decent," Caroline smiled sourly.

There was a clearing of a throat and Cami had a dumbfounded look on her face.

"Um...well," she straightened herself up, "You know, Caroline, you never did get me that glass of water."

The defiant blonde raised an eyebrow but nonetheless rose from her spot on the floor.

"I'll be right back."

In the kitchen she grumbled to herself, filling Cami her drink from the faucet. The girl didn't deserve filtered water. She would love to see the look on her face. It's not filtered? The horror!

To be fair, she herself was inclined to drink only filtered water.

Oh and Klaus. That was another thing. Who died and left Elena in charge of dictating relationships? What happened to good old fashioned fate? She was certainly not going to let her suggest that she could not have a shot with Klaus.

Her ringtone had begun to play and she quickly hit answer, "Yes, April?"

"No, the free champagne needs to be given out after the winning speeches! And if I am hearing classical music in the background then you better tell them to pick up the freaking tempo. Otherwise they can pack their things!" she whined in her last complaint, giving a half-hearted goodbye before hanging up.

"Seems like someone else knows how to be ruthless too," Klaus appeared behind, commenting on her short lived phone call.

Caroline laughed dryly, placing the glass on the counter, "Following me, are you? So I've gotta give them a kick up the butt for not doing their jobs? It's not the same."

"And what is it that you do to...be able to kick people 'up the butt' as you say?" he asked, strolling up beside her.

"I work at pageants as the event organiser," she answered shortly, facing him.

"Ah, with the frilly dresses and the shallow judging?"

Caroline scoffed, "Actually, pageants build a woman's character."

Klaus laughed, retrieving a cold beer from the refrigerator.

"Oh so you are a failed pageant queen then...?" he guessed playfully.

As if she had been slapped in the face she angrily held her hands on her hips while he popped the cap off and swigged his beer.

"I'll have you know," she contested, "I was Miss Mystic Falls!"

Klaus smirked, resting his bottle on the side before getting closer, "My apologies, Miss Mystic Falls."

Perhaps Elena had been right. Completely wrong match. However, despite this she had a petty need to prove Elena wrong, and with the tense atmosphere surrounding them, the small distance between had gone unnoticed.

"Well, I am not surprised considering how beautiful you are. Although, I am sure you have been told that a plentiful amount of times," he complimented her, admiring her cheeks flushing with irritation.

She was taken aback for a moment but stayed defiant in her facial expressions, "Yeah, I have actually."

"It seems I am on your warpath tonight. Care to share your darkest thoughts with me?"

Again there was that burning in his eyes that made her feel self-conscious, but strangely she wanted more.

She huffed and leaned against the red counters, "So? You happy with your match?"

"My what?" Klaus squinted in confusion.

"Didn't you know? You're on the Elena show now and you've been matched with the lovely Cami," Caroline waved her arms dramatically.

He chuckled and paced slightly, "The Elena show, huh?"

"What? You thought you were invited here to just hang?" she laughed, "How'd you even get roped into this anyway?"

"We met at one of Kol and Damon's baseball games a few months ago," he said casually, resting against an opposing counter, "Now that you mention it, Elena did keep asking me a lot about my love life."

Caroline rolled her eyes in amusement at his cheeky smile. With her arms folded, she tilted her head back and forth, "Bet she liked the challenge of finding you a date then."

"In that case, I am afraid she has failed," he replied before he sighing heavily.

"What? Cami's not your perfect match? Well then what the heck is Elena gonna do?" she laughed in her sarcasm, gaining a chuckle from him.

"Like you said, I think Cami's type is someone...more decent."

"Dang it. You're gonna crush Elena's heart..." she paused, tracing a finger in circles on the laminate countertop, "You know she thinks we're incompatible?"

"Is that so?" he raised an eyebrow, "Do you share that belief?"

"Hm...I wouldn't kick you out of bed," she admitted, pushing her lips out to avoid a grin.

They shared a brief gaze. Perhaps it was the alcohol or the fact that Elena didn't think they'd be a good match, or even that he was just insanely attractive, but she could only imagine ripping his clothes off right then and there.

She pushed up her chest and took a step forward confidently.

"Do you wanna have sex?"

As if he had choked on his own breath, Klaus coughed.

"Sorry, what?"

"Do you want to have sex with me?" she repeated slowly, hands on her hips. Her fingers tapped on her curves almost impatiently.

He tripped over his words, eyes avoiding her, "Well– I mean– huh... I would not necessarily object."

"Necessarily?"

"Look, I do not regularly get propositioned."

Caroline took a closer step, poking his chest, and with a hushed tone said, "Just to be clear, I'm not some sort of sex freak who goes around asking people I've just met to do it with me."

Klaus smirked, catching her finger with his hand, "I assure you that was not my suggestion, love...but now that you mention-"

Squinting, she was unimpressed and pulled back from his grip, "If you don't want to then you don't have to, _love_."

He leaned in slightly to meet her eyes with his, "On the contrary, I would find it incredibly hard to say no to someone as...fascinating as you. Nevertheless, do _you_ want to?"

Caroline pressed her lips together, realising what she had started. On one hand she knew she was acting irrationally but on the other hand her sex life was currently a tumbleweed away from being a Wild West film. She also desperately wanted to show Elena how wrong she was.

She swallowed her nerves and roughly took him by his white Oxford shirt with a devilish glint in her eye, "Are you calling me, Miss Mystic Falls, chicken?"

A loud laugh escaped him as he looked to the side contemplatively, "Well then," he made eye contact once more, "I would love to just rip your clothes off but I am afraid that if we do it right here everyone will get to find out just how thin these walls are."

"...Right. Yeah, okay. I guess we should go to mine?"

* * *

"So, what do we say again?" He mumbled as they made their way back to the group.

"We-," Caroline began but was startled by Elena's appearance, "Hey, Elena, I'm not feeling so well, I'm going to head off."

She coughed. It was her 'sick' act.

The brunette frowned but nodded, "Aw, okay, Care. I hope you feel better. Klaus, you're not leaving as well, are you?"

He shrugged and sighed, "I have a busy work day tomorrow."

"But...tomorrow's a Sunday?"

"I know, I know, but considering it is the Lord's Day, I actually have to refuse rest...being the devil and all," he answered, holding his hands up in surrender.

Caroline covered her mouth, laughing quietly beside him, "I'll be going then."

She peered in to the living room and grabbed her coat from the rack.

"I'll see you guys another time," she said waving, "Bye!"

"Me too," Klaus quickly followed with a wave as well, "It was nice meeting you, Cami. Maybe we will chat over coffee some time."

Cami opened her mouth, disappointed by his exit, but kept a hopeful expression over the idea of coffee.

He too grabbed his coat and scarf, and with that they rushed out of the door, shutting the creaky old thing before heading down the steps.

Elena was still stood in the hallway, unable to comprehend the sudden exit.

"That was so weird how they left just like that," she said, hands in her pockets as she entered the living room.

"Probably going to have sex," Damon replied lazily, spread out on the couch.

The brunette stared for a moment but shook her head, "No, that would never happen."

* * *

 **I hope you have enjoyed this chapter! This is going to be apart of a ten-chapter series so I hope you will continue to read. This is my first full fic in a year-ish so thanks for reading and let me know what you think!**


	2. Chapter 2

"Honestly, I am starting to regret not just doing it in the kitchen," Klaus complained, rubbing his hands together as they walked in the dark. For being in the middle of spring, the weather was undoubtedly struggling to keep to its four season policy with the cold consistently kicking in.

"Man up. It's only like...a minute away," she punched his shoulder gently, walking ahead. Admittedly, she was feeling the cold as well, and wished she had brought more than just a light jacket or even worn jeans instead.

"Ow, definitely going to leave a bruise. I was not aware you were such a sadist, love."

"You don't really know me, now do you?" Caroline replied with a wink but immediately looked away. Did she really just wink?

He chuckled, trying to catch up with her.

Klaus pulled his red scarf tightly around his neck, but halted for a split second, "Is there a point of putting this on if you are planning to rip it off, love?"

"If you're not careful, I'll use it to strangle you," she answered, feeling for her keys in her coat pocket.

"Definitely a sadist–"

She rolled her eyes and took a right turn onto the property. Flowers were all perfectly placed along the edges of the path in an array of colours. Her heels clicked against the stone and she practically hopped up the steps onto the porch. He followed behind, taking a good look around the outside of the modest, yellow house.

Wiggling her key in the stiff lock, she finally turned it with a determined look on her face. There was a fresh scent of lavender that welcomed them into the home. She slipped her coat off and turned the light on to reveal the layout.

"Well, this is home," she smiled, placing her purse and keys in their drawer at the entrance.

"Not too shabby," he noted, slipping his coat and scarf off as well, "Now, I would put these down somewhere but I have a feeling I would be putting them in the wrong place."

"Bingo. In the closet by the front door is fine," she replied, sitting her own jacket on its designated hook after shutting the front door. The hook was hung a little lopsided. This was something her mother had time and time again tried to correct but consistently failed at doing.

Klaus nodded and did so, taking his time to admire the old country style wallpaper, "Pretty swanky digs. So, you afford this place on your pageant salary?"

"Mm...I don't have to," she said casually, strolling into the small kitchen area opposite the living room, "My mom left it to me when she died."

Klaus looked down, entering the kitchen as well, "I...am sorry for your loss."

Caroline smiled warmly, taking two mugs from the cabinet, "No biggie. Coffee?"

"Are you planning to keep me up all night, love?" he teased, wandering into the living area.

"What? You wanna just get to it?" she asked with a laugh, "Now, what do you want? I have a bunch of different blends; no one likes the same thing so I had to keep on top of that."

He scrunched up his nose and returned to her side, "I will take whatever you give me."

She bit her lip but quickly nodded, beginning to boil the water. Klaus took a step closer but leaned against the side.

"So, I was under the impression that you and Elena were best friends– she goes on about you enough," he tapped his fingers against the wood counter.

"The operative word is: were," she replied sternly, "She's too wrapped up in herself and how she found everyone love."

He laughed, moving aside as she pulled out a drawer to grab a stirring spoon, "What's wrong with love?"

"You're not secretly one of those are you? 'Oh love conquers all!'. Please."

"Not at all, but you are too full of light to be this jaded, Caroline," he commented, holding her wrist gently.

"Full of light? What are you? A poet?"

"I'm more of a painter but I am sure I could dabble."

She looked at him for a long moment before sighing, "Look, Elena is my best friend...but... You know, I actually can't believe she tried to say that we could never happen, who does she think she i–"

He tugged on her wrist to bring her close, hand cupping her cheek. His lips lowered to hers, gently touching them.

She gave in for a moment, humming in pleasure, but was startled by the water reaching its boiling point.

"Mm– coffee!" she pushed against his chest, receiving a smirk from him. She frowned, facing the counter to take the water off the boil.

He watched her by her side, a grin on his face in response to her dramatic actions.

"Shit, whatever," she blurted out, throwing the spoon in her hand off to the side. The spoon missed the counter and instead hit the wood flooring with a loud clang. She took hold of his shirt just like before, but this time followed through in pushing her lips onto his.

He was taken aback but quickly moved to the motions of her lips, cupping both of her cheeks. The kisses were both tender and forcefully passionate, alternating between the two. Caroline held onto him tighter, stumbling back whilst still attached to his soft, pink lips. Klaus leant into her, his fingers creeping up and interlacing with her long, blonde hair. As she pulled them along to her bedroom across the hall, her heart raced; it was the first time she had been so intimate in months.

He held her against the white door frame, one arm firmly around her waist. Caroline clumsily reached for the light switch inside of her room, and after two attempts was successful. She pulled back, breathing out heavily.

"Hm– Did you want the light on or? I mean I can turn it off– that's if you want," she rambled, out of breath.

He held onto his grin for a moment but faltered. He laughed.

"Well," Klaus started, running a finger along her slender neck, "If the light is on, I can take in every single ravishing detail of your body...but if the light is off, I somehow how think you will be less likely to hold back, and that is as equally as enticing, love."

Caroline's mouth was agape at his words and she shivered at his touch. Her eyes wandered to the bed. She pondered her decision.

"Tick tock," he muttered softly, tugging at the bottom of her dress' v-line neck.

She swallowed, but quickly grumbled, "God you're annoying."

Her hand hit the switch once again, but this time with no mistakes in her aim. She quickly ripped apart the buttons on his shirt, bringing him into a kiss once more. One button skittered across the floor, flying from its place.

"Mm– well–" he mumbled between kisses, "I am– going to– pretend– that shirt– was not– expensive."

Caroline gasped a little, "I'm sorry–"

He caught her lips with his before she could continue, roughly kissing her. She was surprised by his continuation until she felt the reason against her hip. Her amusement could not be helped.

It was interrupted as he tore her green dress at the deep neckline, exposing her her black bra.

 _I liked that dress,_ she thought, but accepted the damage as soon as it fell to the floor. If anything, it aroused her more.

His focus turned to her neck, kissing it softly while he slipped her bra strap down her arm.

"I swear I'll kill you if you do that to my favourite bra," she whispered in his ear to which he chuckled. His hot breath on her neck had her tingling.

"As you wish, love," he replied, unclipping it carefully.

Caroline huffed at his purposefully slow approach, stripping herself of her bra. She immediately threw it aside. He laughed, throwing his own shirt away and quickly removing the thin t-shirt underneath.

She bit her lip at his naked torso, admiring the bird tattoo along the top of his shoulder and chest. Despite the darkness around them, she could make out the outlines.

Before any words could be said, he pulled her up to wrap her legs around his waist. He kissed along her collar bone as he made steps towards the king-size bed.

Dropping her onto the bed, he climbed after her. She watched his powerful gaze take in her whole body. Her arm subconsciously snaked around his neck, pulling him in to close the space in between. She bit his lip in the kiss, feeling his back muscles tense against her skin.

Klaus fiddled with his belt buckle, rushing the removal. She allowed herself to fall back completely, moving back to rest on the pillows. She watched him remove the rest of his clothing, and did the same, removing her panties and kicking her heels off of the bed.

In that moment, she could think about her surroundings. She was about to sleep with a man she had only met some hours ago. It was satisfying to see him glance at her in between unbuttoning his suit pants. The incredible amount of lust radiating off of him was...refreshing. Tyler looked at her like that until his work took over. It became an obsession of his to do better and better. Then sex became a boring chore they did once a week at nine P.M. sharp. She was not looking for love; she just wanted to feel attractive again.

"Condom," he breathed out suddenly.

Caroline shook her head, "I'm on the pill."

She happily welcomed Klaus back into her grasp once he had removed his final items of clothing. Even in the dark, he took time to admire her before planting kisses along her collar bone. His soft lips began to tease along her skin. From grazing across her shoulder to applying more pressure deep into her chest, she allowed a quiet whimper to fall from her mouth.

* * *

As time went on, Caroline found her herself writhing against the teal, Egyptian cotton sheets more and more as he rocked heavily into her body. With one arm intertwined with the sheets and a hand draped over his shoulder she moaned loudly, her head tilted back. There were many surprises in his love-making that she had not ever received with previous lovers. Mainly the fact that he paid attention to her needs at every point, something she wished would never end.

With one last groan, Caroline pulled herself up towards him and her nails ran over his back harshly. She had not been the type to act so aggressively in bed but he was practically a stranger, and the thought of it drove her to let herself go.

"Oh my gosh-" she gasped into his ear, much to his pleasure, at which point Klaus had reached his end for the third time that night. He groaned loudly, breathing out as he slowed his pace. His muscly body curled in a little and he breathed heavily into the curve of her neck. He removed himself from her but not without running his palms along her thighs as he did so.

Once he had fallen back onto the bed, Caroline's arms spread out either side of her head. With a heavy breath she spoke, "Okay."

Klaus laughed tiredly, "Okay?"

Caroline shrugged, leaving for the bathroom. She returned minutes later to crawl into the same spot she had occupied.

"I mean– not that it's just 'okay', it's just like...okay," she replied, giggling as she ended her sentence.

"Wow... A girl propositions you, you give her all you have got - she even injures you in the process - and she just says 'okay'," he said dramatically.

The sweaty blonde gasped, slapping a hand against his chest, "It was good."

Klaus did not let her hand slip away. Instead, his own hand gripped around her dainty wrist, pulling her to sit on his lap. Caroline whined as she was pulled but her facial expression dropped as she felt the intensity in his eyes directed at her.

"What?" she whispered, her gaze dropping to his chest. It rose and fell slowly, such calmness in comparison to his stare. The moonlight seeped in through the crevices of the closed curtains, running across the side of Caroline's fair skin. She enjoyed the warmth of his skin against hers, his fingers around her wrist.

Klaus leaned up, stretching his neck to meet her face with his. He trailed his fingers up her arm and along to her moonlit cheek. Again, she felt her heartbeat quicken as he planted a soft kiss on her lips. He rested his head and dropped his hand once more to her disappointment.

"What was that for?" she asked, tilting her head.

"Because I felt like it," he answered shortly. Her lips parted; she did not know how to respond. His words were so matter-of-fact, yet so soft.

Caroline cleared her throat, "I just realised— I forgot to give Cami her drink."

Klaus was silent but soon burst into loud laugh, "You want to go back and give it to her?"

"Well, I mean..."

She shook her head playfully and squeaked as he threw her off to the side. Her eyes fluttered, taking note of his handsome grin. He pressed his lips together firmly and reached to pull the covers over their naked bodies. Caroline lied there with her hand outstretched and her fingers wiggling slightly, centimetres away from his face.

She had surprised herself that night with the many chances taken. Letting herself go felt immensely satisfying, so much so that her heart could not stop beating with that satisfaction. Caroline yawned quietly, closing her eyes.

* * *

In the morning, she had expected her bed to be empty of the sweaty man. The plan was to stretch out ridiculously like a starfish in the sand and sleep for half of the day. Unfortunately, she found her outstretching thwarted by the strong arms wrapped around her waist.

Caroline groaned for a moment but stopped to notice the faint scars on his chest. She knew she had gotten a little wild but those were not from her. He fidgeted a little, creating a look of panic on Caroline's face. To both her relief and dismay, he stayed in his deep sleep. She had not intended for the morning talk to happen but she wanted to get it over with.

Finding herself with no choice, she elbowed his chest before rushing into a fake 'sleep'. Pause. She opened one eye cartoon-ishly and turned to find him still snoozing away. She huffed and repeated the process, only this time elbowing with a little more force.

"Ug–" Klaus choked out, fully waking.

Caroline contemplated silently whether it was best to keep the act up. However, afraid that he would make an effort to stay she quietly 'yawned', rolling to face him with her eyes blinking open slowly.

"Oh..." she groaned lazily, "You're still here?"

Klaus stared with slight suspicion but was amused by her words, "Did you want me to sneak out in the middle of the night, love?"

"Well, considering how Kol speaks of you, it seems that's your forte," she answered, adjusting to rest her head on her hand.

He mirrored her actions, making eye-contact, "I suppose so. I guess I was too tired to make the trek back home and staying here was the better option at the time."

Caroline blinked uncomfortably, finding it difficult to maintain looking back, "So I'm like the sexless innkeeper– only, I did get the sex."

She laughed and he followed suit, admiring her smile.

"So, just a regular innkeeper?" he joked. His eyes wandered over the curve of her hip poking out from the sheets. Caroline found the source of his gaze and sat up abruptly, wrapping the sheet around herself.

"So, um– check out for the inn is fast approaching," she informed him, nodding firmly.

Klaus chuckled, raising his hands up in defeat, "Okay okay!"

He slipped off of the bed, his bare skin on full show as he bent to grab his items of clothing. Caroline glanced over and then the glance became a long stare paired with a hard lip bite. The tall man, clothing in hand, looked over his shoulder. She quickly averted her eyes but it was no use as his smirk made evident.

"Unbelievable," he gasped, turning fully to face her, "Would you look at this shameless objectification!"

Caroline pressed her lips together, avoiding her need to smile, "If you're going to do it then," she looked him up and down, "I reserve the right to as well."

It was strange to her that as soon as he challenged her she felt the need to prove her confidence. He made her metaphorical knees weak yet somehow she refused to show that weakness.

Caroline sucked in a short breath, letting the sheets fall away from her body, and she crawled to the end of the bed. Klaus swallowed but soon grinned at her burst of confidence that reminded him much of the night before.

He met her seductive stare, resting his hands on either side of her. His fingers dug into the mattress as he hovered over her.

"So, what is the verdict regarding your 'best friend' Elena's deductions on us? Are we incompatible?" Klaus asked, raising an eyebrow.

She stared up and shrugged her shoulders gently, "I don't know... What do you think?"

Caroline looked in his eyes expectantly, her loose blonde curls a mess around her face.

He hummed quietly, moving a curl behind her ear, "I wouldn't kick you out of bed."

The blonde poked her tongue out slightly, distracted by his words. With a clearing of her throat she smirked.

"Using my own words agai–"

Klaus kissed her for a long moment, his fingers resting against her soft cheek. She felt the air leave her body as her lips moved against his.

"Caroline?"

There was a heavy knock at the front door, interrupting their moment. Caroline's eyes widened, her hands firmly against the male's chest.

"Shit," she muttered, hopping off the bed to rummage through her drawers.

"What–"

She cut him off, "Stop standing there and get dressed–"

"Caroline? It's Elena! I brought you some soup," Elena's voice called out from the front porch.

Caroline threw on a silk nighty before picking up Klaus' left over belongings. He only slowly slipped on his boxers and pants over the top.

She huffed shoving his shoes into his chest, "Hurry!"

Klaus scoffed and reluctantly put his shoes on. He allowed her to push him out into the corridor, laughing along, "Just ignore her. Elena will go away soon enough."

Caroline gave a dead-pan expression, allowing a couple seconds before she heard the inevitable clicking of a key being inserted into the door. At that moment Klaus' relaxed demeanour became quickly panicked as he too rushed to find an alternative exit.

"My coat–"

Caroline was ahead of him, throwing open the cupboard door to take his coat and scarf. She held it to him as they sped to the back exit.

"Now why would you give her a key, hm?" Klaus questioned, opening the back door.

The key wiggled in the lock but was clearly the wrong fit as they heard it being removed.

"I keep meaning to change it," she answered, pushing him out into the garden area.

"I could always just go out the front, say hello and flash my winning smile," he teased, wrapping his scarf around his neck.

Caroline frowned at his exposed chest. He held his torn shirt in his free hand while slipping on his coat.

"I would never hear the end of it in that case. I've ruined her plans, you see," she said sarcastically.

Klaus laughed, diverting his attention only when he heard the door unlock.

"Well then, in that case, love," he tugged at the lace on her nightwear, "I will–"

"See you around?" she finished his sentence, nodding as she looked back and forth to the front of the house.

"Sure."

"Now get out," she said with a laugh, pulling the door inwards a little.

Klaus grinned, leaning in to kiss her cheek, "Nice meeting you, Caroline."

He then took his cue to leave around the side of the back just as Elena's feet shuffled through the living room.

"Caroline?" Elena called, finally catching sight of the blonde.

Caroline was red-faced and jumped at her friend's appearance, "Oh! Hey!"

"I brought soup," Elena spoke slowly, squinting a little as she held up a plastic container filled with orange liquid.

The blonde cleared her throat and smiled, "Aw, you didn't have to."

"You said you were sick so," the brunette replied with a shrug, placing the container on the kitchen counter.

Caroline looked down for a moment, smiling. She walked to the counter, taking the container into her arms. Elena looked as perfect as she had the night before; her hair was ruler-straight and she wore a floral tank top under her brown leather jacket. It was not an uncommon look for her to wear, especially paired with jeans, and it easily had people interested in her. As a teenager, Caroline believed she had the upper hand in the dating pool as the girly, bubbly blonde. However, as quick as she thought that, Elena had found a boyfriend. She played it off as though it was no big deal that she and Stefan had just _happened_ , but to Caroline it was the world. Of course, she did find herself in relationships but never the right ones.

Storing the soup in the fridge, Caroline leaned against the silver door to say, "Thank you. I'm feeling a lot better though just by having that long sleep."

"Yeah... I can tell," Elena laughed gently, gesturing towards Caroline.

Unable to look at a mirror during the rush, Caroline could not see the mess she appeared in that moment; her makeup was smudged, her hair was tangled, and the nighty she wore was on backwards.

She blinked, "Huh? Uh, anyway, how was everyone's night last night after I left?"

Elena laughed once more at Caroline's lack of awareness.

"It was good. We played a couple games and watched some football," Elena shrugged before continuing, "Cami left a little earlier, probably got bored with all the couples around her."

Elena sauntered to the cupboards, pulling out a box of liquorice sticks.

Caroline rolled her eyes, walking over to take the box from her hands, "Can't imagine why."

She pulled out a red stick from the box and snapped a bite off before holding the box out to the brunette. Elena smirked, taking a liquorice stick as well. She watched her blonde friend place the box back in the exact same spot.

"Well, if you hadn't gone to Splitsville with Tyler then you wouldn't have that problem," she tapped her on the nose with the candy.

Caroline huffed, shutting the cupboard gently, "'Cause that was planned, right?"

"Hey, don't bite my head off," Elena replied, frowning, "I bet he wants you back now that he realises the huge mistake he made."

All Elena wanted was for the two of them to be in beautiful, Disneyfied relationships, and go on double dates once a month. She also wished for everyone to act like she did not dump her current boyfriend's brother to be with him. Caroline hated every single moment Tyler was the topic of conversation.

"Yeah, maybe," Caroline replied without care, her shoulders shrugging gently.

"Anyway, what are you doing today? Damon and Kol have a baseball game in the afternoon if you want to come along?" Elena informed her, moving a stray strand of her friend's hair away from her face.

"Baseball," she grimaced, "I don't know."

"Davina can't come today, and we haven't gotten to hang out in so long, just us two," Elena frowned.

Still, Caroline could only shrug.

"Oh come on, it'll be fun," the brunette took her hands excitedly, "There'll be some cute baseball players you can drool over!"

Caroline rolled her eyes. It was always about the boys for her. However, thinking of the food, Caroline quickly laughed with a nod, "Fine. I suppose I could make the trip."

* * *

 **Hey, thanks for reading this chapter! Any comments are extremely welcome! I know some of you may be a little disappointed by the lack of the sex scene's...graphic detail? I'm not really someone who likes to be graphic in that respect, I like to write more held back for scenes like that. The story isn't supposed to be focused on their sex anyway so please don't hold high expectations for those sorts of scenes haha**

 **Just a heads up, I intend to finish this by the beginning of June. Over the summer I won't be publishing anything with the exception of taking part in the annual klarolinevacay event (which you can look out for on my AO3 under the same username). xx**


	3. Chapter 3

The car ride had not been too long despite it being burdened by traffic, although she had sat in the passenger's seat wondering the whole way whether it was worth the energy to see two of her —arguably— least favourite people in the world. One of them was definitely the least. When Damon had first started playing baseball, Elena had made a point to tell all of their friends and encourage them to come to the games. However, this had never enticed anyone, especially Caroline, and eventually she stopped pushing. Elena's eagerness for the games bothered her slightly. It was not until she had met Davina by chance, while waiting in line for food, that she had started to look like she enjoyed going. It was because then attending the games became a game in itself to get Kol and Davina together. Once that was done, it had been all about getting to see her magic in action.

Caroline hummed to herself as she walked up the bleachers of the sports field alongside Elena. The weather was passably warm and it was a decent turn out from what she could tell. Their games were nothing to brag about; they were like little league for adults. The baseball field was pathetic in comparison to what would be seen on television screens across the country in professional games. It was enough for the players, though, who mainly played as a way to escape their boring lives, except for Kol. He lived his life consistently just to wind people up and baseball was just another thing to satisfy that need.

She had managed to avoid going to their games until now but she had deduced that if she had stayed in the house, she might have gone crazy. Crazy thinking about the night before.

The thought of his arms wrapped around her waist was a thought she could hardly erase. She wondered if he was that attentive to his other...conquests. Not that she had cared all that much. For him it was probably just a walk in the park compared to the mountain she climbed in regards to having sex with a near-stranger. It had been worth it, however, and boy did it make her decision to continue taking birth control after being dumped seem much better.

"Wanna sit here, Care?" Elena interrupted her thoughts, gesturing to an empty bench midway up the stairs. It had a fair view of the field, though she had not been planning on paying much attention. Her plan was to eat some greasy food and play a few puzzles on her phone while pretending to care.

"Sure," she replied with a smile. Caroline followed her into the row of seats, placing her water bottle on the chair.

"I'm gonna grab some food before the game starts. Want anything?" Caroline asked as the brunette sat down.

"I'm good, thanks," Elena nodded, quickly averting her attention to the pitch.

The blonde feigned a smile before hopping her way down the steps, her locks bouncing along with her. Caroline wandered along the side of the bleachers to an old-fashioned food truck. While impatient with the line that had formed, she was content having the time to think. For a moment she glanced back at their seats to see Elena eagerly watching Damon stretching on the field. Kol had now stumbled onto the field, late of course, with his favourite bat in hand. Damon greeted him both happily yet with an air of competition.

She did not get the obsession that Elena had with Damon. It was like she had been put under a spell and suddenly everything was about him without a doubt. Even when she had dated Stefan she had not been so intense. That was a carefree time. Elena laughed and smiled so naturally and now she had been reduced to being smothered by someone Caroline found hard to like. She often wondered if it was due to the incident that caused Elena to pursue her boyfriend's brother. That was something they did not discuss. Ever.

Caroline nodded slowly to herself, kicking the dirt up beneath her feet.

"Fancy seeing you here, love," a charmingly familiar voice crept into her ear as he leaned in on her left side.

Caroline jumped a little, holding her hand to her chest, "Jesus– Klaus? What are you doing here? I thought the devil had to work on Sunday?"

The rugged man was dressed in a more casual get up of t-shirt and jeans, and a cross necklace around his neck. The top buttons of the t-shirt hung loose, giving her a peak of what she had seen the night prior. She refused to delve into those thoughts.

"Unfortunately, being the devil, I also am terrible at even sticking to my own rules," he grinned before raising an eyebrow, "Dressed most appropriately, I see."

He was absolutely correct in his statement. Caroline had dug out Tyler's old baseball shirt and a cap she had received for free at a university fair. Topped off with some sneakers and her hair tied back through the hat's gap, her look was screaming 'take me out to the ball game'.

"Well, I couldn't come dressed in something mediocre," she pointed out, hand on hip, "So, how'd you get roped into this, huh? Or are you stalking me?"

Klaus chuckled, looking down before making eye contact, "Well, Caroline, as much as I enjoyed our..."

"Evening."

There was a slight break in the conversation. He pressed his lips together, hiding his delight in making her squirm.

"Yes. As much as I enjoyed it, I came here to support my brother. Poor old Kol could not even get his own girlfriend to come along," he finished with sad tone before grinning, "So how about you? Should I ask whether you are the one stalking me?"

Caroline scoffed, a laugh escaping her, "Hilarious. No, I merely came as company for Elena, but mainly to do some ogling at some eye candy."

She wondered to herself why she had chosen to say that, after all that was not her motivation.

"Well, look no further, love," he raised his toned arms, smiling wide as he witnessed Caroline attempting to stifle a laugh. Even with her usual composure, it was hard not to break into a smile with his wit.

"Wow," she said shortly, turning to move up in the line.

Klaus took the opportunity to step beside her, "Why the cold shoulder, Caroline?"

The blonde scrunched up her nose, "It's not a cold shoulder–"

"I beg to differ considering your...actions this morning," he started before looking her once over, "Especially your delicious crawling on the bed."

A slight redness appeared in her cheeks at the word 'delicious' but she shook her head, "It's not. And I hope you'll refrain from discussing that in public in future, or I swear the only thing left of you will be a bloody rib."

Klaus laughed, moving with Caroline as the line shortened.

"My... I suppose keeping my mouth shut in exchange for my life is a fair transaction," he said, pausing for a moment, "I did hope we would at least be friendly."

She looked at his eyes, searching for any signs of lying. Nothing detected.

Caroline sighed, "I didn't think that the devil could make friends. Isn't it against the rules?"

"Like I said, terrible at following my own rules, and well, I suppose I can make an exception for someone like you," he said, pulling out his wallet, "So, friends?"

Caroline tilted her head side to side before shrugging, "Yeah, okay."

Klaus grinned, "Wonderful. Now, what do you want?"

He wiggled his wallet and gestured to the food truck. It was a red truck with cartoon hot dogs and drinks painted all over. The man who ran it was large stumpy man wearing a plaid red shirt and apron over the top.

She squinted, "I don't think that's a friend thing–"

"Friend thing?" he laughed, "Do your friends never offer to pay? I don't know about you but I am pretty sure everyone else does that."

"I don't think that's why you're doing it though," she stated firmly.

"Consider it a gesture towards a new friendship, love," he replied, pulling out a ten dollar note.

She hummed stubbornly but gave in, "Whatever, I'll take a hot dog."

Klaus' lips spread out into a smile before he turned to the man working in the food truck, "Two hot dogs, please."

The scoreboard rang out its famous jingle alerting to the game's start. Caroline tapped her foot a number of times, only stopping when Klaus made eye contact.

"Anxious to watch?"

She cleared her throat and shook her head, "No. I just don't want it to look like I've tried to escape the game by being gone so long."

The Brit's lips formed a small smile as he handed her the two hot dogs while he paid.

"Why do you care what Elena thinks?" he asked, taking his change with a 'thank you'. The exchange led Caroline to naturally fall away from the line and he soon followed.

"What? I never said I did," she replied with a frown, "Now take your food."

Klaus laughed, dimples showing, "Bossy at any time of day, I see." He took one of the hot dogs but not before examining to see which one looked best. Caroline rolled her eyes, moving along the bottom of the bleachers.

"Who else would you believe would think you had 'escaped' the game, Caroline? For someone who indicates that Elena is not your best friend any longer, you still care what she thinks," he spoke harshly but with a hint of humour in an attempt to soften the blow.

Unfortunately, there was no soft blow in Caroline's book. She stopped in her tracks once they reached the stairway that would lead to her seat. The stubborn blonde turned to face him head on with intent to defend herself. Her mouth slightly agape, her pupils darted as they looked in his eyes. She bit her inner bottom lip, huffing as she swiftly pivoted and headed up the stairs before them. Klaus looked down, chuckling to himself, before once again following the defiant woman up the long stairway.

Caroline smiled upon her return, taking the seat next to her friend. Elena lifted her head as Caroline returned, surprised to see the handsome Klaus trailing not far behind.

"Klaus," she started, much to Caroline's dismay, "What are you doing here? Didn't you have work?"

"Always," he replied, "I just thought I would take the afternoon off for my little brother. Without Davina here, someone has to keep an eye on him."

Elena smiled softly at his kind gesture before her expression became sad, "Oh no, I could have invited Cami if I had known you were coming!"

Caroline rolled her eyes, something not gone unnoticed by Klaus. He mirrored Elena's sadness, sighing gently.

"It is a shame. I would love to see her again but I do not seem to have her number. Perhaps you could assist me, Elena?" he asked, a polite tone in his voice.

Caroline immediately looked up at him, her eyebrows pulling together in confusion. At this point Klaus could feel her gaze on him, leading him to hold in the smirk he so wanted to show.

Elena's teeth were showing in her smile and she promptly pulled out her phone. A couple of taps here and there, and Klaus heard the jingle as the message reached his own phone.

"Cheers," he nodded before tilting his head slightly, "Not to intrude on your girl-time, but would it be okay if I joined you?"

Elena's eyes widened, "Of course! You don't have to ask!"

She made a gesture the empty seat.

"Fantastic," he grinned, taking his place next to an unhappy Caroline. He knocked his hot dog gently against hers. She pulled hers back slightly, wiggling her nose.

"Bon Apetit."

The grumpy blonde shifted uncomfortably, focusing her attention on her food as the first ball had been hit down in the field. Klaus chuckled, taking a bite of his own food, whilst Elena just watched the game intently.

* * *

Everyone clapped when the game ended with the scoreboard's signature chime. Damon and Kol's team had won by a home run thanks to Kol's aggressive swing. Elena had quickly excused herself to join the players whilst Caroline was left with Klaus.

There was silence. Caroline shifted in her seat and pulled out her phone with the intention of reading the latest gossip on her favourite website. However, Klaus held his phone above hers before she could enter her passcode.

"Yes?" she raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.

"Well, I was thinking that since we are friends now it would be un-friend-like to not have your number," he informed her with a serious look.

The blonde sighed, nodding before taking his phone. He grinned, looking out into the field as she tapped away. Elena was hanging off of Damon's side as he chatted to Kol just outside of the dugout.

Klaus recalled the day Kol decided to join the baseball team. It was not long after moving to Mystic Falls that his younger sibling had caught a good glimpse of a game on the television. Then once they visited the club and he saw an aluminium bat, he got overly excited. Unfortunately, when he was told they only used the wooden ones during the games, it put a little dampen on his plans. Still, he played anyway with the idea of smacking a ball in the direction of multiple people's heads.

"Here," Caroline slapped the phone back into his hand, "Anything else?"

"Caroline."

"Hm?" she blinked quickly, unlocking her phone while he spoke.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Well I've already given you my phone number. What else could you ask for?"

Klaus chuckled, "Do you regret last night?"

Caroline paused in her tracks and she locked her phone.

"Of course not," she spoke quickly, eyes wide.

He let a smile slip, "Then what's with the hostility to cover up the fact that last night you were all over me?"

She was thrown off by that question and immediately looked to the bottom of the bleachers where Elena was headed. Biting her lip, she stood up.

"I think we better go down," she told him, patting his shoulder gently.

He sighed, rising once she had passed him, following her down a couple steps. For a moment she paused, turning slightly to speak.

"I'm sorry. I said we could be friends and I guess I wasn't acting even close to that," she admitted, her gaze averting to the side.

"Well, I did not want to cause a fuss, but..." he trailed off, a smirk playing at his lips.

A laugh escaped Caroline and she made eye contact, "Alright, I get it. So...official declaration of friendship?"

He lifted both of his eyebrows playfully, "Official?"

"Official. Now, come on," she replied with a smile, walking on down to meet Elena. Klaus made his way behind her with a delighted expression.

"Hey, great game," Caroline exclaimed as she greeted Damon and Kol. The pair of them amused her with their baseball uniforms; they looked like two grown children. They acted like it too, at times.

"I am surprised you caught it with your eyes glued to your phone," Klaus mumbled behind her to which she coughed uncomfortably.

"I got some film of your home run, actually," she continued, speaking to Kol.

"Ah I must see it. Now, I hope you got my good side, Caroline," Kol replied, his bat at his side.

She smiled awkwardly, nodding, "Always."

"Every side is my good side so it is a given," he shrugged.

"We better get going," Elena interrupted, tugging on Damon's hand, "I have to get the store before it closes!"

"The store? What for?" Caroline tilted her head.

"Uh...just for a few things," Elena laughed nervously, "Will you be okay getting back on your own?"

The blonde frowned, "You could have told me this earlier, Elena. I guess I'll walk home."

"Nonsense," Kol piped up once more, "We can fit her in the car, can't we, brother?"

"Certainly," Klaus answered, "It will give us more time to get to know each other."

"Great," Elena smiled widely, "I'll text you later, Care."

Caroline nodded, slightly suspicious of the way Elena's smile was paired with the bouncing on her heels. Nonetheless, they said their goodbyes before Elena and Damon rushed to the parking lot.

"Well then, I suppose we best make our way then, mm?" Klaus proposed, gesturing to the opposite pathway to the other end of the parking lot.

"You can show me the video in the car, Caroline," Kol swung his bat slightly as they started walking. The edges of it were starting to splinter and the handle's design pattern was wearing off rapidly.

"Hah...yeah..." Caroline looked down with wide eyes, her left hand clasped around her phone.

Klaus stifled a loud laugh, only letting a slight chuckle out. His eyes wandered to Caroline, who gave him both a knowing and warning look. He smiled at the ground, their feet both kicking against the dirt of the parking lot.

"Where's your car then?" she asked, looking around the area.

"Guess," Kol snorted.

Caroline raised an eyebrow, taking a longer look. Pickup trucks were not an uncommon occurrence in a town like Mystic Falls. So much so, that people were pretty liberal with how they decorated their vehicles, making the search in a sea of trucks a little easier. Only a little though. Upon closer inspection it was obvious to which car was the Mikaelson brother's. A black BMW, wedged between a red truck, and a silver truck with "keep on truckin'" slapped on the back was the winner.

"It's the truck, right?" she answered jokingly to a laughing Klaus.

"Easy, love. I might have moved to a small town, but you cannot get rid of my expensive tastes," he informed her, pulling the keys from his jeans' pocket.

"That's a shame," she sighed as he unlocked the door. Klaus immediately pulled the driver's seat door open, slipping into the front.

Kol allowed Caroline to step in front, "You can go 'shot gun'. I insist."

Caroline smiled, opening the door, "Thanks."

She slid into the seat and shut the door firmly after her. The interior was sleek; the seats were brown leather and the rest of the interior was a classic black.

"What is it you find a shame?" Klaus asked, strapping himself in.

Caroline laughed softly, pulling the seatbelt down slowly, "I like a man with a pickup truck."

Their belts clicked gently in place one after the other with Kol's delayed by a couple seconds.

Klaus smirked, starting up the car, "Is that so? Maybe I should trade my car in."

Caroline giggled softly, looking out of the window as the car reversed.

"Maybe," she said before shaking her head, "Actually, I can't stand those trucks. It's all the same around here."

Unfortunately for her, having a car was not a viable option despite her mother leaving her the house. With funeral costs automatically her responsibility and her mother's vehicle being returned to her work, Caroline opted for walking everywhere she could and getting rides when needed. However, she knew that if she did buy a car, it would be something fancy – definitely not a pickup truck. That was for sure.

"Oh, so I should not trade it then after all?" Klaus posed the question, focusing on the road ahead.

"Mm...I suppose not," she tapped her fingers against the leather under the windows. She glanced at him with a small smile. He glanced back the same.

"Enough with the flirting," Kol moaned, sitting forward excitedly, "Caroline, I would like to see the video of my glorious home run."

Caroline's face transitioned to a light red and she cleared her throat, "Right, yeah."

Klaus smirked to himself, taking a left onto a long stretch of road. He could not help but revel in the fact that even as supposed 'friends', there was a flirty back and forth.

The blonde casually unlocked her phone, pretending to search for the non-existent video she had claimed to take. With a couple of phoney swipes here and there, she groaned aloud.

"Seriously?" she whined, pressing the lock button.

"What is it?" Kol's head peaked up.

"I guess the video didn't take? I swear I pressed the record button, Kol," Caroline replied sadly, turning her head to the younger Mikaelson.

He huffed a little but lied back in the seats with a shrug, "There will be other home runs, I suppose."

"How terrible," Klaus commented, his cheeky grin just fighting through the blank faced facade. Caroline pressed her lips together hard and simply nodded, taking a look out of the window once more.

"Hey– where are you headed?" she asked curiously. They drove past a number of large, gorgeously matching houses and took a right down a winding path to an even larger, mansion-like estate. The outside was painted all white, but surprisingly, there was not a blemish to be seen on the paint.

"I'm assuming this is your house?" Caroline asked.

Klaus nodded.

"Kol!" Caroline said in a scolding manner, "Both you and Rebekah kept saying your house wasn't fit for gatherings!"

Kol sighed, "Well, obviously it's not! I mean, we can't be having you commoners dirtying the place up."

"Kol," the older Mikaelson said sternly.

"Kidding," Kol laughed, throwing his hands up.

Klaus drove up to the entrance and turned the car around before applying the brakes.

"Kol will get restless if he is in the car too long. I thought I would relieve him before I dropped you off – if that is alright," he told her softly.

"I mean, it's not like I–"

"Perfect for me," Kol interrupted, dashing out of the car, bat in hand.

"Bye, Caroline!" he slammed the door and made his way to the house entrance.

"...had a choice," Caroline finished, "He wasn't kidding, was he?"

There was a pause but an automatic fall into laughter between the two. Klaus shook his head disapprovingly of his brother, moving off in the car once more.

"I am sure it was a wonderfully shot video, Caroline."

They laughed again in unison.

"I swear I shot it!" she squealed, her hand waving dramatically.

"Caroline. You know as well as I do, that that is not true," he said playfully, leaning a little towards her as he drove.

She giggled and rolled her eyes, "Fine."

"So, see any of the eye candy you so clearly pointed out you wished to drool over?"

Caroline shrugged, smiling mischievously, "Maybe, maybe not."

"So you will be able to tell me their shirt number, right?" he replied questioningly.

She scrunched up her nose, tapping mindlessly against her smartphone, "Who cares about numbers when you're admiring hot guys?"

"I am not sure I have any input on that subject."

Caroline laughed. She recognised the neighbourhood they were now driving through. The town of Mystic Falls was a small one, but Caroline still found herself surprised by some of the neighbourhoods she came across. Twenty-five and she still did not even know all of the places in town.

"Don't you find it a little suffocating living with your brother and sister?" Caroline asked, watching him focus on the road.

"Well, the place is big enough that I can avoid them for the most part, and it does help that it is just those two and not our other siblings as well," he answered, his hands tilting back and forth on the wheel as he spoke.

"There are more of you guys?!"

He smiled and nodded, "Horrifying, I know. Finn lives with his wife in Manhattan, Elijah lives New Orleans, and my mother and Henrik live in England for the time being whilst Henrik finishes his schooling."

"And your father?"

Klaus' expression tensed but his eyes kept focused on the road, "He lives in an apartment somewhere outside Mystic Falls. I don't really keep track of where that is."

"You work for him yet you don't know where he lives. Close relationship then," she replied.

"Obviously."

Caroline took a moment to take a long look at the side of his face. His jaw was still slightly tensed. She could understand from that alone that she had hit a nerve. She quickly perked up and hit her knees gently.

"So, did you enjoy the game, Klaus?"

"Hm?"

"The baseball game..."

Klaus blinked a couple times but nodded, "Uh– yeah, yes. Not that I could pay attention."

He drove onto the familiar street but struggled in regards to the exact whereabouts of her house. In comparison to his own, the houses were noticeably smaller. Even his kitchen and dining area were bigger than some of the places that they passed by.

"Number thirty," she gestured to the fenced off house that Klaus now recognised. He drove onwards, coming to a slow stop in front of the flowery path. He pulled the handbrake up and smiled warmly at her.

"So, why couldn't you pay attention?" Caroline asked, her eyes squinting slightly out of confusion. She unbuckled her seatbelt and sat more to face him to which he too did the same in a bid to face her.

"You see, there is this immensely beautiful woman, who consistently has me fascinated despite the nonstop abuse," he teased, shrugging in defeat.

She rolled her eyes but still could not help but laugh, "Don't you think the abuse may be justified at times?"

Caroline rested sideways against the seat, staring at his face and his boyish grin. He mirrored her leaning.

"Do you?"

Moving her head side to side, she hummed, "Mm...at times."

The pair had gradually inched closer and closer together. There was not a lot to be said in that moment but she felt the need to keep the conversation going.

"You know, I thought that–" she paused, feeling the closeness between the two of them. Caroline glanced at his lips as if they were inviting her in, as were his intense eyes. She had not noticed before, but there were darker flecks of blue surrounding the pupils of his eyes. It could not be helped that she admired them.

"Thought what?" Klaus muttered, taking the same glances she had taken; his eyes wandered to her lips and landed dead on her own crystal clear blue eyes.

"Last night was more than okay..." she whispered and could say no more as she fantasised their lips crashing together. In her head, she imagined his hands softly cupping her cheeks and cymbals sounding.

Before even making any action, she could sense herself going back on her earlier words. It excited her.

* * *

 **Hey, thanks for reading! If you want to leave a comment, tell me your favourite bit! Thanks again!**


	4. Chapter 4

It also scared the living daylights out of her.

For that reason alone, before his lips could even graze hers and the cymbals could appear, Caroline pulled back. She sat up straight, to his disappointment, and began to reach for the door handle. Even she was disappointed, as the thought of his fingers gently pressed against her delicate cheeks was ever so inviting.

"Okay, now I really should get going," she said with a firm nod. It was hard for her to believe her own words, but deep down she knew it was best.

Klaus took hold of her free hand as the door fell open slowly.

"Caroline."

"Klaus," she released a heavy sigh, "I really think that us being friends is for the best. If you're looking for more then...go on a date with Cami! She'll be way more interested and you have her number now, so that's half of the journey."

He smiled downheartedly, nodding, "Of course."

Caroline sucked in a breath, gazing at their hands locked together. If his fingers were to trail up her arm in such a manner as the night before she may have gone back on her word completely. It was mind-boggling that, for a man she had only met, and then slept with, less than twenty-four hours prior to that moment, she was feeling so wrapped up in him mentally.

It took a second but the two let one another's hands slip free.

"Don't be a stranger," she replied with a reassuring tone, her legs dropping out of the car one at a time. He gave a small salute as she glanced back before exiting the car altogether.

Caroline clung to her phone and she watched his black vehicle move off into the distance past the long row of houses. Her gaze lingered even after the car had left her view, but soon her eyelids fluttered as if to shake her out of the moment. She had a long exhale, stepping off of the pavement and along to the front door.

* * *

Her phone buzzed aggressively on the nightstand and she murmured, stretching her hand out carelessly. Multiple attempts were had but without her eyes on the phone, her hand was finding empty spaces of the side-table. Before she could even touch the edge of her phone, the buzzing had stopped. Content once more, Caroline rolled over and hugged a large pillow. The feeling did not last long. The buzzing started up again, which felt even more annoying the second time around.

She groaned loudly and sat up, pulling her phone off of the side and to her ear, "Hello?"

With a slightly disgusted look, she wiped off some drool from the side of her face. She supposed it was better than choking on it. Either way, it was not glamorous.

"C-Caroline," a shaky voice spoke. She heard the person on the other head sniffling in between teary breaths.

Now fully awake, Caroline replied with a more urgent tone, "Elena? Is everything okay?"

"Uh–" another sniffle, "Can you come over soon?"

Yanking the covers off of her legs, Caroline replied, "Of course! I'll bring us our favourite coffee from the cafe on the corner, yeah?" She heard an almost silent 'uh-uh' and made her goodbyes before hanging up.

The blonde racked her brain for what could possibly be wrong, but aside from an argument with Damon, there was nothing she could think of. It had been weeks since she had seen the two together at the baseball field but it was hardly a tense atmosphere between them. In fact, they were their usual giggly and flirty selves. On top of that, whenever she saw Elena out and about, she seemed happy. She felt that usually she could tell when something was wrong. In this instance, it was not the case.

Caroline tied up her hair into a loose ponytail and changed into a pair of sweats. Unable to find anything else, she was forced to wear hot pink sweatpants that read 'hottie' on the butt. It was not her finest moment in college. At the time they were all the rage, and without a pair, she would have been behind socially. At least, that was what she believed back then.

Not that she had wished to look like that on a Saturday, but looking in the mirror, she felt that it was not too shabby as far as early morning looks went. Once she had pulled on a pair of oddly coloured, red sneakers, there was a rush out of the door.

* * *

The bell rang at the moment of her entrance. The rusty, golden bell rattled against the top of the door frame. Like many establishments in the town, 'Coffee Corner' was long known by the locals and a well-kept secret when it came to any passing tourists, although, that was a rare occasion, if ever.

Elena and Caroline were teenagers when they had started stopping by the cafe. Every morning before school, they knocked rapidly on the door so they would open a little earlier for them. Soon, it became a given that they would make their daily trip and the place had moved its opening time to half an hour earlier. Of course, once high school was over and done with, and college was on the horizon, they did not make their usual trips, but whenever they could, they would pick up a latte for one another, especially in times of need, like when Tyler had brutally dumped her. Not cool in the slightest.

Although Elena annoyingly continued to believe that she and Tyler would get back together, she was there for her. She picked her up in her hand-me-down pickup truck and took her to the coffee shop immediately after. Caroline thought that times like that were the most important.

The blonde hummed gently as she entered, feeling to make sure her phone was secure in her pocket. She made a b-line for the counter, taking note of the food behind the glass case.

"Hey, Gus," she greeted happily, fingers curled over the top of the display case.

Gus was an older gentleman, with an awkward amount of beard that even a hipster would be astonished by. His build was large and he wore his signature 'I'm trying, okay?' apron. She hoped that he washed it considering how much he had it on.

"Two lattes with extra foam to go, two danishes, and two slices of that amazing looking cheesecake," she said in a friendly manner, showing her excitement when mentioning the last item.

"Got it, Caroline."

"Caroline? Hey!"

She did not recognise the voice that projected from across the room. It was a woman but that was all she could gather. As Gus tended to the coffee machine, pulling out the cups, Caroline turned to the person who was calling her.

Sat across the room at a small table, was Cami. It made sense that she did not recognise the sound since it was something she usually chose to drown out. She could count on the conversation ending somewhere on the topic of psychology. Saying 'wow, fascinating' was the go to response and worked ninety percent of the time.

"Cami, hey...and..."

Her eyes scanned across the table. Cami had a bottle of water and a croissant, but opposite sat a single black coffee and the thorn in her side.

"Klaus," she finished, strolling up to their table. A face she had not seen for weeks, nor heard from for the same amount of time. Once she had left that car and said goodbye, there was radio silence. She did not think much of it. It was just the way life worked; people had things to do and no time to do anything else. Caroline herself was working on a pageant diligently.

"Caroline," Klaus replied shortly.

"I didn't know you two were hanging out," she started, her face set in a surprised expression. Caroline analysed them as she waited for a reply. Cami shrugged and had a goofy smile on her face, while Klaus looked almost like a dog being told off for urinating on the carpet. It was not the guilty kind of expression, but the 'yeah, I did it' one.

"Well, he called me a couple weeks ago but I had so much work that we couldn't meet until now," Cami replied.

She rocked a little in her seat before suddenly widening her smile, "Actually, you know, you and Elena went on about this place so much that I thought it would be perfect for a coffee date."

"A couple weeks ago?"

Caroline paused.

"Wow. _Fascinating_."

"You're not spying on us, are you? Nice look, by the way," Klaus piped up, grinning in his quip.

She frowned, looking down at her bright pink pants, before laughing forcefully, "Of course not…and I was in a rush for my morning coffee."

"It's…three P.M., isn't it?" Cami raised her chin, looking at the two for clarification, and glanced at the brown watch secure around her wrist.

Caroline froze a little, staring into space with the biggest smile she could muster up, "Hah, it's always someone's morning somewhere."

It seemed it had never occurred to her to actually check the time before she ran out the house looking like a poster girl for the mid-noughties. Nevertheless, she would still make an attempt to act like she knew what she was doing.

"Caroline. Your order."

The awkwardly-dressed blonde smiled at the pair, "I'll be going. Enjoy your…date?"

"Well—" Cami began but Caroline quickly walked back to the counter, taking the paper bag of food and the two coffees sat snugly in their holder. All she could think was: 'don't care'.

"Thanks," she said as she paid, quickly ambling to the exit once she was done.

The bell rang behind her but before the door could hit the frame she heard the bell ring a second time. The ring felt a little aggressive that time and the door fell a little harder.

"Caroline, wait," Klaus said in a firm manner.

"What, Klaus?!" Caroline spat, spinning around. The paper bag flung over into her right hip, and the coffee whirled about in their cups.

"Whoa," he held his palms up, "Why are you acting like this?"

Admittedly, Caroline did notice that in saying her words, she was less than welcoming to the man before her. There was a hint of regret in that regard, but unfortunately it had been said already. She reminded herself of the annoyance he was causing her and settled on sticking to the unfriendly manner in which she spoke.

"I could ask you the same thing."

"Are you jealous?" he asked plainly. Klaus stood tall in his jacket and jeans. He was dressed similarly to how he had been at the baseball game. The same necklace was dangling from his neck. On one hand, Caroline preferred the more casual look as it made him seem like an actual human being, but on the other, ripping his dress shirt open was hardly a thought she could wipe from her mind.

The blonde scoffed, "Obviously not. The question is: Are you _trying_ to _make_ me jealous?"

"I believe it was you who told me to call Cami," he reminded her.

"Yeah, but I didn't think you would actually do it, Klaus."

"Why is it a problem whether I go on a date with her or not?"

Caroline's jaw clenched and she was at a loss for reasons. Perhaps there was a hint of jealously, but that was not what had her riled up.

"You're the one who wanted to be just friends—"

"And we are, aren't we?" she attempted to clarify.

"Well, I don't know. 'Don't be a stranger' is awfully dismissive, love," Klaus said, shoving a hand into the pocket of his black jacket. In the sunlight, she noticed undertones of red.

"Are you kidding me?! Is that why you decided to call her? Because you felt like I was being…dismissive?"

He shrugged, a smirk playing at his lips.

"You're a child."

"And you _are_ jealous."

Caroline huffed, "You know, I'm not going to be jealous. Once again, I realise that we are not going to work. So, I have to admit: Elena was right. Speaking of, she's expecting me now." She turned on her heels, taking a couple steps.

"Funny."

"What?" she asked with her back to him.

" _Once again_ ," he started mockingly, "I realise you care way too much about what Elena thinks."

The irritation was all over her face and evident when she strutted up to make direct eye contact with him.

" _Yes_ , I care what she thinks because _yes_ she is my friend, even though sometimes it doesn't seem like it—"

"Like when you say she isn't."

"Yes."

It felt weird to admit it out loud. She did, of course, care what Elena thought. Even after everything, she knew Elena cared for her and that was why she was so conscious of her opinions. For their prom, Elena had told her how much the colour blue suited her so she wore a blue dress, and countless other times she straightened her hair because Elena did. It wasn't a planned decision. It just felt like she had to do it.

Klaus glanced back at the coffee shop. The windows were half-covered by a set of brown shutter blinds, a consistency of one odd blind appearing on every window. When Cami mentioned the coffee shop being a favourite of the other two's, he supressed the excitement within that he may have been able to see Caroline.

"Caroline," he said. This time, his speech was softer and she could barely tell but the guilt was seeping through.

"I have to go," she replied, mirroring the toned-down voice he had, "Call me when you grow up."

Klaus clenched his jaw, his eyes piercing as he stared at her back.

"Call me when you stop caring about others' opinions."

Caroline pressed her lips together and closed her eyes once she had moved away from his sight, quickening her pace to avoid any unnecessary conversation. The moment he had said her name, something tugged at her heart. He had her falling for his words but at the same time, she just became increasingly irritated every time she looked at him.

* * *

"Elena?"

The walk had not taken her long as the café was situated at an almost equal distance between their houses. While she received one or two odd looks over her choice of clothing, she maintained that she was still pulling it off even if secretly, she knew no one could pull it off. Except for maybe Paris Hilton, but even now the trashy taglines on the buttocks of neon coloured sweatpants were too much for the heiress.

The front door was unlocked, left slightly ajar. Caroline stepped through, making sure to shut the door and put the lock on. The lamp on the hallway table's light was flickering a number of times. The yellow light was a dulled in comparison to the last time she had been there. She pulled gently on the chain cord to turn it off. Knowing what time it was, now at least, she suspected Damon would be out of the house to attend baseball practice.

Clinging to the coffee holder, she took gentle steps up the creaking brown staircase. Old photographs were hung diagonally on the wall. They mainly consisted of Elena and Damon in vomit inducing 'candid' poses, or Elena and her brother as children. She adored the baby Elena and Jeremy photos; the cuteness could not be resisted. In actual fact, Jeremy entering a relationship with their friend Bonnie meant that their friendship group had three pairs of siblings. Sometimes Caroline would forget this but really, he had never 'joined' the group; he was always there from birth.

By the final step onto the landing, there was a cluster of small, slightly damaged photos. The edges of a couple had slight tears and their corners were creased. Two of the photos were of the whole Gilbert clan: Elena, Jeremy, and their mother and father. The other two were just of Elena and her parents. One in particular was sweet: Elena was sat in her mother's lap, clinging to a doll that every five-year old at the time had begged for. The last of the photos was the most recent of Elena and her parents. She did not view those photos as enthusiastically as the baby photos.

"Care?" a small voice appeared in the corner of the hallway. At the end was stood Elena, pyjamas on and halfway out of the door to the bathroom. Even from afar, Caroline noticed the paleness in her usually warm skin.

Caroline frowned empathetically, walking up to meet the girl by the door. She gestured for them to enter the bathroom. Once she had set the coffees down on a small plastic box and the bag of food on the floor, Caroline sat herself next to the bag by the edge of the bathtub as Elena crouched opposite. She held out one of the coffee cups to the brunette and smiled sadly. Elena accepted it with a shyness that Caroline had not experienced before.

"Is everything okay?" Caroline began before rambling, "I mean—everything is obviously not okay since you were crying and well, you don't look good. Not that that's a bad thing. Sometimes we have rough days. Did something happen with Damon?"

Before she could continue her lengthy monologue Elena reached for couple of small, white sticks that were perched on the middle of the toilet seat. It was something that Caroline had completely missed as she had walked in. The white sticks were indeed a shock to the blonde's system. It was not something that could be unrecognised. Was Elena pregnant? She felt a rise in panic, but as soon as she did, she noticed the single red line on both of the sticks. There was calm again in her mind. However, she glanced back and forth between the sticks and Elena, whose facial expression had been unmovable from the moment she saw her face.

"We've been trying for the last few months," Elena confessed. On the last word there was a crack and the girl blinked harshly, avoiding eye contact.

There was more surprise for Caroline. She was shocked at her friend's sudden fragility, one that she had never really witnessed even in situations much worse. Despite this, Elena was trying for a baby with Damon and she had not told her. Not being told was not a big deal to her, but trying for a child alone was enough for her to nearly do a spit-take. The girl did not strike her as the type to want children, nor did Damon.

"Sweetie… I had no idea," Caroline managed to reply, despite the initial shock. She placed the tests back on the side and scooted closer to her friend. Elena was not the hugging type but she wanted to show her support in some way.

"I was hoping to tell everyone once it happened…but it's not happening," she breathed out her words, trying to conceal her pain.

"Oh…"

The blonde mentally gave herself a slap across the face. Even before she replied, she knew that 'oh' was not exactly the most comforting response. Still, it was all she could seem to unravel from her frozen thoughts. She sat up with more purpose, smiling sympathetically.

"Well, it doesn't happen overnight, sweetie," she said carefully, trying not to crack the egg shells she was treading on, "You're young, there's plenty of time."

"That's the thing. What if there's not?"

Caroline swallowed, thumbing at the flimsy cardboard wrapped around her coffee. It did not take a rocket scientist to figure out what she was getting at, especially as she could see the fear written across the brunette's face.

"Mom was everything to me, Care," she sighed, "And Dad… Jeremy and I…"

"I know," the blonde nodded slowly, her head drooping sadly.

Elena took a long sip of the coffee in her hands, closing her eyes as the warm liquid cascaded down her throat.

"That's not going to happen to you, though."

Caroline reached to hold Elena's free hand that rested on her thigh. She squeezed gently, her eyes locked on friend's. Elena set the cup aside, taking hold of Caroline's hand fully with her other hand. Caroline felt the extra touch of her coffee warmed hand balancing out the cold in her opposite.

"Isn't it? What if something does happen? What if…what if I die…like them. They—"

"You're not."

Caroline put her coffee down next to her feet, placing her hand on top of Elena's. She spoke with such conviction, keeping a tight grasp on her. There was no moment in their relationship that Elena indicated such strong feelings. When their car had run off the bridge, Elena was under the water for so long that one would have thought that recovery would be a long road. However, not even a few months later, Elena returned to school for their junior year. There was no talk about the accident. Whenever mentioned, she would just say that she was 'fine'. At the time, Caroline was so blindly unaware that the girl was hurting, but as the years went by, the moment had passed for serious talks about the issue. Clearly a talk was needed and Caroline immediately scolded herself internally for not realising that sooner.

She could tell that Elena did not believe her words. There was a gentle nod from her as if to express agreement but her eyes did not express the same.

"Look, I brought you some food as well," Caroline brightened up, scooting back to take the paper bag and set it between them.

"What did you get?" Elena asked, pursing her lips.

"The best pastries, of course, and then cheesecake for dessert!"

Elena cracked a smile, "The obvious choice."

"And every time, Gus lets me tell him my whole order even though it's never going to change," Caroline laughed, handing her a danish before taking one out for herself.

"Well, would you have it any other way?"

The blonde paused before grinning, "He might think he knows the order but what if he forgets?"

Elena laughed and took a huge bite of the pastry. She had not eaten much throughout the day, being so worried about the prospect of a single line appearing on the pregnancy tests.

"Thank you, Care," she changed the subject, chewing slowly as she spoke.

"We're best friends. I wouldn't be a good friend if I wasn't here for you at times like this," Caroline replied. She said it again: friend. This time, she even said 'best friends', a step up from what she had aggressively told Klaus not long ago. However, it was the truth no matter how much she frustrated her with the obsessive matchmaking.

Elena smiled once again, soothing Caroline's worry over the matter.

"It's fine anyway, Damon doesn't even really want kids," she told her matter-of-factly. She resumed biting off huge chunks of the sweet pastry, licking the stray flakes off of her bottom lip.

Caroline had opened her mouth to begin eating her pastry but stopped before it could touch her lips.

"What?"

"Yeah," she shrugged, "I guess he's not really the parental type."

"Has he said anything?"

"Not really. He just doesn't seem interested whenever I mention it."

"But you want them?" Caroline asked for clarification.

"Yes, but if I can't even have them, then there's not much else to say or do."

"You can keep trying," she reassured her, "It's not easy to get pregnant for anyone."

Elena leaned against the bathroom door, humming, "I guess…I'll keep trying."

"Patience is key," she replied, her mouth full of pastry.

The brunette rolled her eyes playfully at the girl's optimism, finishing up her own food.

"So, I bumped into Klaus and Cami at Gus' today…on a date," Caroline trailed into the new topic, hoping to cheer her up.

Elena gasped, "Really?! Oh my gosh, I told you they would be perfect together."

"You know, I agree," Caroline nodded firmly, smirking. She liked to imagine that at that café, Klaus felt a pin to his heart at that exact moment. There would be a clenching of the jaw and a childish response from him in an attempt to seem like the dominant one in the conversation.

"You really are a great matchmaker."

* * *

 **Hey, guys! Thanks for reading this chapter! I hope you've been enjoying the story so far! What was your favourite part of the chapter?**


	5. Chapter 5

The sky was dark that day. Grey clouds absorbed any light from falling on the city. Klaus had had a horrible start to his morning when he bumped his head on the back board of his bed. It served him right for choosing a thick metal frame, although the chrome colour was a perfect fit in his almost monochromatic bedroom.

He turned the leather steering wheel smoothly, pulling into the underground parking of a large, grey building. Scanning his I.D. on the small, metallic box, the thick, black, steel gates rolled up slowly. As they did so, a deep hum sounded from the friction. He drove the car through slowly and circled around the underground area before slowing to a stop in his designated spot.

A small plaque was drilled into the wall in front with his name in a faded, black font. Next to his space was a larger town car with the name "Mr. Mikaelson" in fancy, three-dimensional, gold writing on a larger plaque. Even the town car had its extra flair with a custom, gold hood ornament of what most thought was modelled after the titan Kronos. However, it was obvious to Klaus that it was actually how Mikael saw himself when he looked in the mirror. All in gold.

He presumed his father had only just arrived at the offices as he noticed his driver leaning back in the front seat. The poor sucker was confined to that car until the big, bad boss returned and could only leave for a toilet break and a designated lunch. The only thing that kept him, Randy as he was referred to, was the handsome pay that came with the job. Unfortunately for 'Randy', his actual name was 'Joel' and Mikael had cycled through many drivers to the point that he called them all 'Randy'. He had never even had a driver named 'Randy'. It was a wonder he even bothered with a name in the first place.

Klaus stared at his reflection in the rear view mirror for a split second but shook his thoughts off. He abruptly opened the car door, nearly slamming it behind him as he dragged his feet along the concrete flooring. With a firm press of the button, the car beeped to signal its lock and he shoved the keys into his coat pocket. It seemed he had great timing as the elevator doors pulled aside just as he approached it. A man who had stepped in first held the door, nodding to Klaus firmly when he entered. He moved aside, allowing the worker to press the button for his floor for him.

Klaus stood at the left, back corner of the sleekly designed elevator. Behind him was a large, light-lined mirror. Again, it was another design choice by the one and only Mikael. He put in ridiculous amounts of detail, from his hood ornament to small little 'M.M' initials engraved on just about every metal surface.

He retrieved his phone from his deep pockets, fiddling about to hold it amongst the miscellaneous items he had left in there. He pressed his thumb on the fingerprint reader and began tapping when it unlocked. The dreaded piece of technology was difficult for him to navigate the moment he bought it. Too many random tabs and applications were cluttered about that he had no use for. The application for his email had taken too long to load so he pressed the lock button out of frustration, not even bothering to see that he was not connected to the internet.

The doors pinged open and the other man in the elevator exited, nodding once again in acknowledgement. Klaus rolled his eyes and held onto the metal bar on the wall from behind. A number of floors later and the doors opened once again for him. The second from the top of their unnecessary thirty-story building. There was no doubt that if Mikael had any longer to make his adjustments to the blueprints, he would have aimed for the big one hundred.

Klaus squared his shoulders, stepping out into the drab hallway. A couple plants were dotted about and the doors to the main office were on the right hand side. He yanked the door open; it always seemed to feel heavier every time he laid his hand on the wooden handle.

Strutting down the pathway of the office he accepted nods and a couple uncomfortable 'sir's as greetings from the employees on each side of the room. At the far end was his office, with his assistant situated next to the door at her own desk. Despite the windowed walls of his office, Mikael insisted that he keep the drab shutter blinds closed to avoid any distractions.

"Good morning, sir," the young assistant smiled with teeth, her glasses digging into the tops of her tanned cheeks.

"Aimee," Klaus greeted simply, entering his office through a similar, heavy door.

Once inside he released a heavy sigh, hanging his coat up on its stand next to the door. He frowned, looking at the shutters over the windows. He was allowed to keep them open thankfully, but for some reason they felt more like bars in a cell in that state.

Klaus threw his phone onto his desk carelessly and fell back into his large, leather chair. He rested his head back and closed his eyes.

The last few weeks had been odd for him. He had slept with a beautiful girl, then was rejected by said beautiful girl a number of times, and went on a date with another, slightly less attractive girl, which then angered the former. Not that it bothered him. He delighted in seeing Caroline at a loss for words at times, especially when he knew he had her cornered. Bringing up Elena was always a sure fire way to hit a sore spot. Anything to do with her seemed to strike a nerve. His coffee date with Cami was an example of that. It made him chuckle to think of her red face in reaction to him outside of the café.

The date he was on itself was a small distraction from the real blonde distraction that was Caroline. When with Cami, despite her otherwise respectable qualities, he felt as though she were analysing him rather than trying to form a relationship. Caroline, however, he wished to speak to for hours on end even if it involved just ruffling her feathers the whole time.

He rotated contently in his chair but was interrupted by the small intercom at the corner of his desk.

"Sir, your father– Mr. Mikaelson would like to see you in his office."

"Wonderful."

* * *

He rolled his shoulders back before pressing the button for the top floor. Compared to the other floor buttons, this one was painted gold, and despite there being an even number of floors, the button was placed above the one for Klaus' floor. If anything at all was missing, it was The Imperial March from the Star Wars series playing once you pressed the silly, gold circle. He suspected that Mikael would have thought about it at least once or twice.

The floor in the hallway was a white marble and a number of statues were placed in every corner available. Directly opposite the elevator was a pair of ridiculously large, mahogany doors. If that was not enough, the door handles were golden lion heads, and there was a tiny, curved receptionist's desk squeezed in, next to one of the statues. His father had to be cheap somewhere and he could not skimp on the door handles.

"Klaus," a red-headed, young lady greeted sensually from behind the desk. Her wine-coloured blouse left much to the imagination as the top two buttons hung open carelessly.

Klaus' tongue poked out teasingly between his lips and he trailed his fingers across the desk top. He slowed to a stop, picking up the small snow globe on the table. He shook it gently with a grin.

"Hello, Aurora. How is the old dragon doing, pray tell? Has he shown any signs of illness?" he asked absentmindedly.

She laughed lowly and held her hand out for the globe, "Now now, if he croaked then who would sign your pay checks?"

"The same person who signs them now," he responded, "Considering the only thing he does around here is bring misery, I am not sure much would change, except for people's moods. Could you imagine that? Happy people working at the Mikaelson Financing Company?"

"It would be revolutionary," she bit her lip as he placed the globe firmly in her perfectly manicured hands, "So, when do you think it will happen?"

Klaus hummed, leaning in and stroking his thumb gently against a smudge of lipstick near the corner of her mouth.

In a hushed tone he spoke, "Well, if you keep having sex with him much longer, perhaps his heart will give out from the excessive activity, but…until then…"

He smirked and Aurora in turn pursed her lips in a devilish manner. The redhead was a tasty treat that upon the occasion was a guest in his king-sized bed, but over time it became tiring, specifically when he caught her in a compromising position with Mikael, and ever since he had resigned himself to making suggestive conversation with her.

He pulled away slowly, straightening his suit jacket as a buzzer resonated.

"He will see you now."

Klaus had a smug face, glancing to the doors to his father's office, or rather the gates to hell.

* * *

"Niklaus, it has been so lovely of you to join me. You know, the boss' son arriving late and after the boss does not appear proper," Mikael swung around dramatically in his throne of a chair at the other end of the room.

"Mikael,-"

"Father."

" _Father_ , do you honestly think it has an effect on the company?" Klaus challenged him, strolling up to the extravagant, white desk.

"Yes," Mikael said with a low rumble in his voice.

The youngest of the pair pushed his tongue over his top set of teeth out of irritation.

"When Elijah suggested that I bring you into the company after your graduation, I was reluctant. Why on earth would I give the bastard a job in what should be a _family_ company? Regardless, I thought I would hand you the life line you were clearly in need of—"

Klaus breathed in deeply through his nose, trying to keep his cool as his father spoke onwards.

"However, all I have received from you is pathetic work over a number of years. All of that in return for my generosity, and you are not even my child."

Mikael emphasised the word 'pathetic' his lips smacking out a whoosh of air.

"I asked you to make cuts, and to award you some points, you did, but not enough. You are too busy with your bloody nursery drawings," he spat out, slapping a number of sketches onto the desk to his son's dismay.

"I believe that is an invasion of my privacy—"

"Not in my building," Mikael interrupted.

"Quite pretty," he complimented with an air of superiority, roughly waving about the pile of sketches. The man had made sure to put a specific piece at the front of the others to which Klaus clenched his jaw. Mikael rose from his chair in a relaxed manner and sauntered to stand in front of the tense Klaus, whose composure flinched when he held up the sketches once more.

The sketch was his most recent: Caroline. He had tried his best to remember the features on her face while she slept that night they had spent together. Looking at it now, he strangely felt warmth as he dazed off into thinking of her. Her hair was difficult to sketch as it was undoubtedly a dishevelled mess. He was not entirely sure of what inspired him to start sketching her. He was sitting in his isolated office days after their encounter and somehow it spurred him to think of how comfortable he was in her bed.

There was no room to think further as the rough paper was brutally slapped across his face at the hand of his father. Clenching his teeth even more, Klaus stared coldly at Mikael in defiance.

"Make more cuts, boy, or your head will be on the chopping block."

Mikael tore the pages in half and then into quarters, and then he let them fall to the marble floor in a mess of paper. The man took a long, triumphant look at Klaus before turning away.

"Someone clean this up! Now!" he shouted to the immediate response of a young boy at the other side of the room.

"Always a pleasure, father," Klaus said through gritted teeth.

* * *

"Can I get some lights or something around this fountain?" Caroline asked, a large clipboard in her hand. She stood before a three-tier, concrete fountain at the centre of the large estate's garden area. She was the spending out the day testing the layout she had planned as well as holding a run-through of the pageant.

Every year the Miss Mystic Falls pageant was held at the same venue during the Founder's Day Gala. While Caroline had urged for a different venue, her ideas were shot down within a matter of seconds in favour of the traditional mansion. The Founder's Hall was admittedly beautiful with its old style building, but she envisioned a measurably more modern approach with the pageant being held in the Grand Dutch Hotel that had been opened some years prior.

"I'll sort that out," a shy April nodded, meandering off into the house, past the numerous decorations being lugged by volunteers. She was halted a couple times to avoid bumping into statues that were making their way down the stone steps.

The poor girl was intent on trying to impress Caroline with her abilities but came up short each time as her demeanour was always awkward and uncomfortable when faced with a job. She reminded Caroline of herself when she first was employed. It was tough on a catastrophic scale. Every minor inconvenience had her on her boss' warpath and Caroline regularly contemplated quitting the profession altogether. It was not until she was finally given an event of her own to run that everything turned around. Now she was the one being hysteric over minor issues and causing everyone else to nearly stop breathing when she entered the room, clipboard in hand. It was slightly satisfying, although it was something she had to keep herself at bay from abusing.

Her eyes carefully scanned the outdoor area as well as the path leading up into the hall. The plan was that it would be perfectly lined with balloons and ribbons along the stone walls, and a long red carpet would be rolled off and down the steps. Caroline nodded to herself and made sure to check off items on the list. Her gaze slowly wandered off into the distance of the garden. If she had to name one thing, the bridge was her favourite part of the venue; it had this charming quality to it, being so separate from the rest of the main area.

Slowly, in her daydreaming state, her thoughts turned to a certain, charming Brit. It had only been a few days but she had run over their interaction a million times. From the moment she saw the two sitting in her favourite coffee shop to the moment he fired back at her aggressive responses. It was hard for her to remind herself, but she firmly believed that everything would be better if the one night stand stayed a one night stand. No matter how many times she found herself thinking about it when sat in the bath tub at home.

She pressed forward in that thinking when speaking to Klaus, not letting him entice her into slipping up. Even still, his childish efforts to make her jealous were truthfully more of a bother than she let on. Although, she supposed her feelings were more obvious than she believed she had presented.

Caroline sighed heavily, rubbing the ache on her neck. Not had they only known each other for a month at maximum, they had spent less than two days in each other's presence. It freaked her out more than anything that she kept bringing her thoughts back to the devil himself, Klaus Mikaelson.

She groaned and pulled out her phone from her pocket. Unlocking it with ease, she opened the phone app and searched for his name.

Caroline laughed to herself and pressed the call button once she had found him under 'D' for 'Devil'. It rang for a long time but to no avail as she found herself listening to his awful voicemail. If anything she was relieved he had recalled the number correctly to her.

"Sorry, I cannot make it to the phone; I am probably busy doing more important things. Perhaps finding me in person would suit you better. So, maybe don't bother leaving a message."

She rolled her eyes, unable to keep a straight face when hearing his pompous voice. The voicemail beeped, and disregarding his suggestion, she cleared her throat to speak.

"Hey—uh…"

Caroline suddenly realised what she was doing. The question was: just what the hell was she doing? Was she taken over by some alien or ghost that wanted to mess about with her? She nervously looked around at her surroundings, contemplating her words.

"The Founder's Gala is on Saturday and the Miss Mystic Falls pageant is on the same day. So, if you want to come it'd be…cool."

She winced dramatically. _Cool._ If she could scream profanities at that moment she would have screamed them into the high heavens.

"Bring Cami if you want. Bye," she paused, "Oh, it's Caroline," she rushed her speech, hanging up immediately.

Caroline spun around in embarrassment and covered her face. A number of things had gone wrong in those few minutes. Firstly, she called him. Secondly, it took her until _after_ she had already said 'hello' on the voicemail to realise how stupid she was being. Thirdly, _cool,_ and lastly, her awkward goodbye. She mentally berated herself for acting like a loved-up twelfth-grader who would ring her crush five times a day and then hang up without a word.

"Care!" a casually dressed Elena came, practically skipping down the steps with Damon trailing behind her.

Caroline's eyelashes fluttered in surprise at the energy-filled Elena, whose arms spread as she neared closer. The blonde hesitantly welcomed her into a hug that lingered for a little longer than she had wished.

She and Elena had spent the better part of the Saturday sat on the bathroom floor, indulging in pastries and cheesecake. More importantly, they spent the time talking about what was going on with Elena. Initially, it was a shock that the girl was even thinking about conceiving, but the devastation and the fear written on her face was a whole new concept to Caroline. At the time of leaving, Elena was not so distraught, but the mood was ultimately sombre at best. So, when faced with a suddenly bubbly girl, Caroline had to do a double-take.

"Hi, girlie," Caroline replied, rubbing her friend's back lightly, "How is everything?"

She held onto her hands gently as she pulled away from the hug. Elena tilted her head a little and cracked a confused smile before realising.

"Oh—yes, it's good," she nodded a number of times.

There was an odd sense of falsity in her words and Caroline could see in her eyes that something was still lingering there, underneath the façade. She squeezed her hands a little tighter to encourage her friend.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm fine, Caroline," Elena slipped out of the blonde's hold, turning to the side to face both Caroline and Damon.

Caroline's stare lingered on her friend but shook away to view the dark-haired man, "Damon, hey. How's things?"

He sported his signature sinister smile and his usual attire of all black everything. He stood with his hands shoved into his pockets, swaying closer to Elena to snake his arm around her waist.

"Blondie. Everything is perfect. As usual," he answered, suspicion dripping from the intonations in his words, "How's your grand dog show preparation going?"

Caroline conspicuously rolled her eyes, "The _pageant_ preparation is going well, thanks."

"We thought we'd swing by, maybe help you out," the brunette interjected with a bright smile.

"That would be great! April's doing some of the lights for the fountain if you wanna go and help her out? She should be inside."

"You can do that," Damon nudged Elena's side, speaking flatly.

"Cool," Elena nodded slowly, releasing herself from Damon's grip, and headed off into the hall.

Left alone with Damon, Caroline hummed uncomfortably to herself. The pair had never had a satisfactory relationship from start to finish. When they were in high school, the uncomfortable way he seemed to menacingly stare, and his lack of spatial awareness, kept her from speaking openly around him. As time passed, she improved her confidence in shooting back her responses to his insults, but the same atmosphere was still present.

"Just you and me, Blondie."

The blonde took a long look at him, "I guess so. There are some tables that need moving over there."

"Yes, sir," Damon replied with a salute, taking a stride before halting to look at Caroline once more, "By the way, Blondie, next time, don't fill Elena's head with ideas. I'll get her a dog or something."

Caroline did not respond. She simply watched him take his steps to the pile of chairs and pull a small stack up into his arms.

To hear such a callous way of speaking was not unusual coming from Damon Salvatore, but despite this, her heart sank at his words. Elena was right when she had mentioned that he did not want children. Nonetheless, allowing them to try to conceive hinted to her that he did in fact wish to have children. Clearly, her thoughts had been misguided.

"Care, I can't find April anywhere," Elena appeared some moments later, frowning.

Holding her clipboard tight to her chest, Caroline's head jolted a little and she was disturbed from her thoughts.

"Huh? Yeah, sorry. I guess she must have gone out to buy a couple things," Caroline answered her, her sight frozen in one place.

"Oh," Elena scrunched her nose up, "What else is there to do?"

The blonde slowly took her gaze onto her clipboard, scanning over the list, "Well…"

She paused, but looked up abruptly, "Elena."

"Yeah?"

Caroline momentarily thought of what to say.

"So, are you still thinking of having a baby?"

She was undecided on whether that was the best thing to lead off with.

Elena was taken aback but smiled nonchalantly, "Not really. Damon and I talked, and I guess I realised we're not really meant for that sorta thing."

She felt her heart sink for the second time that day. Caroline held the clipboard by her side, but her nails scratched tensely against the flimsy wood.

"I thought you wanted them?"

If she could say more she would have reminded her of the mess she had been that Saturday.

"Yeah, but…it's no big deal!" she ended with a laugh, her arms rising and then falling down. She linked her hands behind her back.

Caroline paced a little to the side, her feet nearly dragging against the grass, "Do you think that's the best thing for your relationship? What if you regret it down the line? What if—"

"Drop it, Caroline," Elena told her firmly with a huff, "I'll go help Damon with the chairs."

"What—"

Elena dismissed her with a slight wave and rushed to be with Damon across the garden. Elena immediately was stuck to his side and he set a chair down, sitting on it lazily.

Caroline scoffed and folded her arms. It was something that could almost make her vomit all over the well-trimmed lawn. If she did not care about the event on the coming weekend, she would have done so in the most disgusting of fashions.

 _If you wanna be my lover!_

Caroline jumped at the sound of her favourite Spice Girls song emitting from her phone. She reached for it and gulped at the sight of the name appearing on the lit up screen.

"Hello?" she answered with a sigh.

"Hello, love."

* * *

 **New chapter for you all! Not much in the realm of Klaus and Caroline interacting but I hope this gave you some insights!**

 **I just want to say to anyone has been reviewing so far, thank you so much, I really appreciate your words and I hope you will continue to read and review?**

 **What did you enjoy about this chapter or the story so far overall? Let me know! x**


	6. Chapter 6

_"_ _Now, I usually do not check my voicemail, but when I am bored upon the occasion, I like to listen to all of the piled up messages,"_ Klaus had started, already smug in his words _, "But hearing a voicemail from the one and only Caroline Forbes inviting me to one of her events? Well, the presses must be stopped."_

 _"_ _Klaus…"_

 _"_ _Now, I know that we had that little…spat the other day—"_

 _"_ _Klaus."_

 _"_ _I mean, I'm over it, but the question is: have you stopped caring about what Elena thinks?"_

 _"_ _Have you grown up?"_ Caroline had begun with a firm voice but she then sighed and bit her lip, " _The answer to your question is:_ _no, and I'm not going to. Look, it would mean a lot to me if you could…make an appearance."_

She had been forced to make up something on the spot. She did not enjoy seeming like his attendance meant something to her.

 _"_ _And why should I?"_

 _"_ _Because as much as I think my event will be perfect, I want as many people to attend as possible. It's the first time I've run the Miss Mystic pageant."_

 _"_ _I am still unable to see why I should 'make an appearance', as you say."_

He was unbelievable. She could feel his ego growing larger just at the thought of her invitation.

She had scoffed, holding the phone away to momentarily wallow in anger, " _Whatever—You—I don't even know why I called you anyway. The only reason I invited you was…_ "

The blonde's words had trailed off.

" _Because..?"_

 _"_ _It doesn't matter. Just forget that I even called you in the first place."_

 _"_ _Caroline, wait."_

 _"_ _What?"_

 _"_ _I suppose…I could make that appearance."_

Caroline winced at the thought of their phone call earlier that week. She sat there, in front of the mirror, combing through her wavy locks with an irritated force.

It was, of course, just her luck that the man who claimed in his voicemail that he would not check messages, happened to check said messages. She had hoped that her voicemail would get lost in the sea of others and he would never hear it, or he would hear it long after their…situation had ended. It had been her intention to make it clear that she had not meant to call him. However, she knew that in doing so she would have had to explain how that accident occurred. The one thing that frustrated her to no end was the fact that she became so lost in her thoughts of him that it prompted her to make the phone call.

She noticed the tense facial expression she was frozen in and relaxed her face, blinking a couple times to keep her thoughts at bay. It was no use as she kept thinking it over and over again. The two of them had only spent a short amount of time together. Why did it all affect her so much? Why did it affect him so much? She could not understand his insistence in trying to… Well, she did not know what it was he was trying to do. Be with her?

Caroline groaned before gently rubbing her temples, elbows rested on the vanity table. In an ideal world they may have gone on a date, a couple dates even, and forged an actual relationship. This was obviously not the case. She wondered if that was exactly what he wanted, or was it that he just wanted to play some more?

After all, their relationship involved them knowing each other for the better part of a month and spending only a fraction of that month in each other's company. It was hardly enough time to decide on wanting a romantic relationship. As well as that, the time they did spend together was thirty percent sex, ten percent normal conversation, and sixty percent arguing. She did not find those odds appealing.

Even if she did believe they stood a chance, the way he had behaved outside of the coffee shop had riled her up. It was completely unacceptable. At the very least she hoped he knew what he did was wrong. At the most…well, that was something she rather hoped her imagination would not create.

Refusing to dwell on it any longer she set her comb down with a huff.

The pageant was merely hours away and she had not even picked out her outfit. Among the busy preparations, there was no time to find a fancy dress. It was only the night before while lying in bed that her eyes had shot open in realisation of the outlying task. She had chastised herself with a slap to the forehead. Groaning, she had rolled around in her large bed, a bed that had suddenly felt bigger over the last few weeks.

"No!" she raised a finger at herself in the mirror, "Stop thinking about him, Caroline."

Her reprimanding was interrupted by her overly familiar ringtone. She realised that perhaps the Spice Girls was something she needed to let go of now that she was an adult with an adult job. Changing the ringtone was definitely a good start.

"Hello?" she answered in a defeated manner.

"Big day today, Care," an excited Elena replied. She could hear the rustling in the background, an obvious sign that she was also getting ready.

Earlier that week, Caroline had been admittedly shaken by her friend's dismissal of what she believed to be a fair argument. If she wanted to have children, then it would not go away just like that, even if she convinced herself that she agreed with Damon's opinion. Despite this, she knew when to quit while she was ahead. They had not mentioned that little moment again and they were speaking as normal.

"Yeah," Caroline had a small smile on her face, "Still a lot to do though."

"Yeah, _right_. You're on top of this, Care. This pageant will be the best one ever—well aside from the one you won, of course."

Caroline laughed softly, recalling the pageant. Elena was also a contestant and that had Caroline nervously fidgeting all throughout the day and the night before. It was the perfect moment when she had heard her name being called as the winner. Finally, there was something Caroline had for herself that not even Elena could steal the spotlight from.

"Well," Caroline laughed more, "I don't know. I'm hoping it'll be better than that—only by a small margin though!"

"Obviously," Elena giggled, "How are the girls looking this year?"

Caroline swivelled herself around on her chair, wandering to the closet with her phone attached to her ear still.

"Mm…not as fabulous as us, that's for sure, but I think they're a good group of girls. I just hope they don't mess up the freaking dance number we've planned," Caroline said worryingly.

"With your…guidance, I'm sure they're too scared to miss even a single beat," Elena teased.

"They better be," Caroline replied with a laugh, her fingers hitting gently against each item of clothing, "Elena, I have no idea what to wear."

Elena laughed on the other end. It was not like the blonde to not have her outfit planned out from head to toe, including the makeup and nail polish.

"Suggestions?"

"Well, you wanna be able to move around, right? So, wear something short!"

Caroline nodded slowly, making her way through to the few short dresses she owned.

"Maybe the gold dress I bought a few months ago…" she muttered, speaking to herself.

"Yes!" Elena answered ecstatically, "You'll look great, Care."

"Then it's settled," Caroline replied, pulling the dress off of its hanger, "The theme is: A Glimmer in Gold."

"How long ago did you come up with that one?"

"…When I bought the dress," Caroline laughed, fiddling with the small little beads on the top half.

"Of course you did!"

"How's volunteering at the hospital going?" the blonde asked curiously, sitting on the bed.

Elena volunteered on and off for years, and at one time she was enrolled as a medical student. However, she felt she could not bear to live away from Damon, making trips to see him despite missing classes. Sooner or later, everything caught up with her and she had to choose. Caroline wished not to judge her, but Elena's decision was not the right one in Caroline's mind. Thankfully, volunteering was still there and she worked part time at a local bookstore for petty cash while Damon brought in the big checks from his office job.

"It's great—uh, Care, I've gotta go, but I just wanted to see if everything was going well with the pageant?"

Caroline smiled to herself, thinking about the coming event. She had planned it diligently for the last few months and even before she had secured the event. The run through and floor planning on the Tuesday had, for the most part, ran smoothly with only minor hiccups that were easily fixed. A couple of the girls had two left feet, but that did not stop Caroline from trying to improve their dancing.

"It's looking out to be good so far," she replied humbly, pacing with her dress in hand.

"Yeah? Well, if you need any more help with anything, just let me know and I'll come over," Elena assured.

"Yeah, thanks, Elena. I'll see you later! Bye," the blonde replied as she threw her phone on the bed and hummed to herself. She had three hours get dressed, get her makeup on, and make sure everything was completely set up at the venue. Despite April's assurances of being able to get it all set up by herself, Caroline was sceptical and could not trust anyone else to do the job satisfactorily.

* * *

"Ladies and Gentleman, I would like to welcome you to the annual Founder's Day Gala and Miss Mystic Falls Pageant!" Caroline smiled widely, speaking into the microphone secure on its stand.

The tables were laid out in an almost diamond-like formation before the stage, which was decorated with red, white and blue banners. At the back of the tables was the large fountain, lights carefully wrapped around the edges in preparation for the evening portion of their gala. She could not wait for the sun to go down so that they could light them up like little stars clinging to the fountain. It was the one thing that April had managed to do successfully, although Caroline had made a few minor adjustments in regards to its placing.

The tables of people clapped as waiters made the rounds with modestly filled glasses of champagne. Caroline had ensured that each waiter knew to keep any empty glass filled with alcohol. In the middle of the tables were her friends, all decked out in their dapper outfits. Everyone had made it: Elena and Damon, Stefan and Katherine, Kol and Davina, Rebekah and Matt, and Bonnie and Jeremy. Well, not quite everyone. She assumed Klaus would indeed make his appearance later, with Cami's arm linked around his.

"While our lovely ladies prepare to take the stage, please welcome our town's mayor, Mayor Lockwood," Caroline spoke, her smile now frozen awkwardly. She gestured for the mayor to walk onto the stage as she backed away. There was nothing like introducing her ex-boyfriend's father to the all-knowing audience of Mystic Falls residents. Still, a job had to be done and she would not let Tyler's faults affect her career in the town she had lived in for a large part of her life.

"Thank you, Caroline. Isn't she a wonderful host?"

She stepped off of the stage while the mayor made his long speech. He had sent it to her through email in the weeks leading up to the event, and she had so wanted to tell him it was too long, but out of politeness, she accepted the speech. At least a few jokes had been sprinkled in, despite them being of the dad-joke calibre. However, she chose to avoid listening to those jokes.

Caroline had strode into the building to check on the pageant preparation taking place inside when she saw Klaus making his way through the front. Dressed in a black suit, he immediately grinned as his eyes placed firmly on her. She stopped in her tracks to take a long look at his well-groomed presentation and to take notice of the lack of a certain boring blonde.

"No date?" she raised an eyebrow in her first words. She had hoped that it would have maintained as a mere thought, but she was too curious to let the question pass without an answer.

"Hello, Caroline. I am fine, thank you."

Caroline sighed but laughed softly. His soft voice and wit were automatically pulling her into a pool of charm. It was frustrating, to say the least. On top of that, he was dressed impeccably with a perfectly fitted black tie around his neck.

"No, I am without a date. It seems I may have been acting rather…"

"Childishly?"

"In one word, yes, I suppose," he looked down, chuckling, "So will you accept my apology?"

He raised his head to view her again, his pouting face begging for forgiveness from her. She pressed her lips together and swayed slightly as she moved closer to him.

"I guess I can… Although, I was taught that an apology involved saying 'sorry'."

Klaus grinned, tilting his head back and forth, "You do have me there. I am sorry, Caroline. I should not have acted in such a way."

She pursed her lips together. It was nice to hear those words from his mouth, although it lingered in the back of her mind that she, too, had acted in a less-than-adult way.

"Would you like me to get down on my knees? Because I can do that, if that is what you would like?" he joked, admiring her figure in her gold dress.

Caroline giggled slightly but forced herself to stop, holding her index finger up.

"Now, let's be clear here: just because you apologise, doesn't mean we're suddenly going to start making out or whatever—"

"Well—"

"I'm _not_ finished."

He submitted and gestured for her to continue.

"I meant what I said when I said we should be friends, okay? If you can't accept the fact that I care about my friend's opinions, then you can just leave. Right now," she attempted to speak with authority but fell more along the lines of a child stomping their feet in protest. She stared at him with interest to see what his following actions would entail.

Klaus pushed his lips out in thought, shoving his hands into the pockets of his tailored trousers.

"And that is final?"

Caroline sucked a breath in, the cogs in her head also spinning with thought. She had not really thought about that, surprisingly enough. However, she supposed that in making that decision, it _would_ ultimately be the final decision.

With whatever ounce of force she had left, she spoke, "Yes."

"Alright, then, shall we get you a glass of champagne?" he asked, taking a few steps forward.

"I'm not sure that's the best idea since I'm the host of this event," Caroline smiled, nodding slowly.

"Nonsense, you deserve to let loose a little, do you not?"

Caroline broke into laughter and shook her head, "I do not. Maybe in a few hours…once the pageant is over, then I can leave everything else to April."

"I look forward to that then, love."

She sighed, a hint of defeat in her breath.

"As friends," he reminded her, a cheeky smile on his face.

"As friends," she repeated quietly, watching him make his way past her and out to the garden.

"What are you doing, Caroline?" she whispered to herself, hands pressed to her cheeks in frustration. The logical thought would be to cut him out completely, and if needed, make small talk when left alone together. Alas, that did not seem to be the case, and she could not help but enjoy the way his words bounced off of hers expertly.

 _Well, shit._

* * *

Later on in the afternoon, the pageant had gone as well as Caroline had hoped. The girls took part in each category with very minor hitches and all that was left to do was announce the winner. Caroline had ensured that each judge, including the mayor, had voted with the four principles in mind: beauty, grace, knowledge, and talent. Not a thing had changed from the time of her pageant, including the focus on being ' _beautiful'_.

"If all of the contests could join me on stage," Caroline began, speaking into the microphone confidently, with a gold envelope in hand. The young girls filed onto the stage in a single line, forming a row behind the blonde.

"It is my pleasure to announce that this year's Miss Mystic is…"

Caroline looked out to the audience teasingly, fiddling with the envelope. The edge of the golden envelope was slightly torn to her dismay, but she smiled widely as she gently pulled the card out, announcing the name. The young girl behind her squealed, joyously jumping about as the other contestants congratulated her. There was a nice reminder of Caroline's win. Throughout the entire pageant, she had not believed she had a chance of winning over Elena, but she did. That win made her feel much more confident than she ever had. She hoped that in her win, the new winner would have found confidence too.

A sash was placed over the girl and she accepted flowers from an older lady at the side. Caroline brought her to the front, placing the small, plastic crown on top of her head. She stood by as the girl made a small acceptance speech, a tear or two running down her cheeks, before she exited the stage with the other contestants.

"A round of applause for these amazing girls!" Caroline encouraged the audience, "Now that we bring the pageant to a close, feel free to dance and drink – responsibly – and have a wonderful evening!"

She looked over at her table of friends, where Klaus had joined not long after their run in. They were all watching the stage intermittently between quiet conversations over glasses of champagne. Klaus, of course, had his eyes locked intently on Caroline the whole time. She diverted her gaze away shyly but shook her head gently to bring herself back down to earth.

"Thank you," she ended her closing with a smile, taking confident steps off of the stand while the band played her off. Many people began to disperse from their tables, some to congratulate the winner, some to console those who lost, and many to grab some more alcohol. Caroline intended to be one of those people once she had made a visit to her friends' table.

She squared her shoulders absentmindedly as she strutted to the table.

"Care," Elena appeared from the side, bright-eyed.

"Oh, Elena!" Caroline exclaimed and stopped in her tracks to receive a hug from the girl.

"You look so lovely," the brunette complimented her.

"Thank you," Caroline laughed, "What about the event?"

"Yeah yeah, it was awesome! Quick question: is April single? I have the perfect guy for her."

Elena had lost her at 'single'. Caroline stared blankly at the girl before continuing her original path of walking. The brunette stepped alongside her.

"I don't know. Does it matter?"

"Obviously—"

"Hey, guys! Enjoying yourselves, I hope?" Caroline said when they reached the table, preventing her friend from speaking further.

"It's been amazing, Care," Elena immediately answered for all of them as everyone nodded in agreement. Caroline refrained from rolling her eyes.

The only exception to the otherwise positive reception was a sour-faced Davina. Caroline squinted in confusion but chose to maintain a positive facial expression.

"You looked so good up there as well," Bonnie interjected, sitting up in her seat.

"Yeah, it was a real _treat_!" Davina said with a bitter tone in her voice.

"Now, if you'll excuse me," she spoke up once more, standing from her seat, and walked off in the direction of the hall.

The group looked at each other with confused expressions, turning to Kol for an answer. He shrugged unknowingly and followed after his girlfriend with a groan.

"Anyway…" Caroline trailed into a new topic, "Help yourselves to any food or drink for the next couple of hours, and please make an effort to dance because I cannot deal with a dead dance floor, okay?"

They all laughed in unison, taking her words as a sign to leave the table for all she had told them. Klaus, however, sat still in the gold-painted chair with a smirk on his face. She pursed her lips to avoid the grin underneath, looking at him with a tilted head.

"So, champagne, love?"

Caroline scoffed and let her shoulders drop in a light-hearted defeat, "I did say I would."

"Exactly," he smirked, still, rising from his seat to lead her along to the nearest table of alcoholic beverages. A couple of bottles were still unopened and sat in buckets of ice. It surprised Caroline that the townspeople had not polished them off completely until she realised the ending of the pageant meant it would happen sooner or later.

Klaus picked one of the bottles out of the bucket, the ice sloshing about as he did so. While they made their way away from the main crowd, he popped the cork out. Caroline held a hand to her chest in surprise as the cork flew off onto the lawn.

"For you," he said softly once he had poured one of the glasses, holding it out for Caroline to take. She thanked him and grinned as she sipped on the bubbling liquid. Feeling the ice cold drink slide down her throat was satisfying after all of the talking she had been doing over the course of the event.

"Being that we are now friends, we should get to know each other," Klaus suggested, pouring his own drink.

Caroline laughed quietly and nodded, "That's usually how friendships work, right?"

"You took the words right out of my mouth."

With a roll of her eyes, she questioned, "So, you mentioned you…dabble in art?"

"Hm…for something I said so long ago, you took note of it," he commented smugly. She momentarily fought the urge to whine at his teasing.

"It's what friends do."

Klaus drank from his glass as they walked along the edge of the lawn, "Well, _friend,_ I do like to do some sketching from time to time…"

"From time to time?"

"When I was sent off to boarding school during my childhood, there was not much to do on the weekends. One day, I was given a set of pencils by a boy whose aunt clearly had no idea what his hobbies were. At first, I thought nothing of it, but eventually I started to sketch real life and I really took to it all. My favourite things to draw were animals; they are so complex, don't you think?"

Caroline stared at him, her eyes boring into his being.

He cleared his throat nervously, "Sorry, I am going on a fair bit."

"No," she replied with an immediate firmness, "You're…not at all. I like listening to you talk about yourself."

He viewed her with a playful smile, slowly coming to a stop in their stroll, "I'd like to talk about you now."

She laughed, "Me? What do you want to know?"

"Hm… I simply wish to know one thing: will the current Miss Mystic Falls hold a candle to your reign?"

Caroline's tongue poked out slightly as she attempted to keep her smile at bay, "I would hope not. I worked hard for that crown."

"I don't doubt that for a second," he assured her. Caroline laughed quietly and shrugged her shoulders.

* * *

Much time had passed and the sun had set before them while they discussed the little things. Many on the townspeople had left the event with a good evening wrapped up. The few stragglers were those drinking and conversing on and around the dance floor, including their group of friends. Caroline and Klaus had sat on a bench not far from the main seating area and viewed the twinkling lights on the fountain. Caroline let out a sigh of happiness.

"It looks so good."

"Yes, you do."

She rolled her eyes and looked at him with a deadpan expression.

"Sorry, I could not resist," he raised his arms in defeat.

She swirled the alcohol around in its glass before taking a sip, "Is this going to be our thing then?"

"Pardon?"

"Me telling you off for trying to make _this_ happen…and you insisting on saying things that you believe are 'harmless' but are really attempts to make me want you?"

He cleared his throat, looking around at the venue.

"Well…"

Klaus looked at her in the eyes.

"That depends on whether it is working or not, doesn't it?"

Caroline bit her lip gently, leaning against her hand on the wooden bench.

"I…"

"How could you?!"

* * *

 **A/N: Something scandalous this way comes, hm? As always, thank you for reading and I would very much appreciate if you would leave a review! Leave a review about any of your thoughts on this story so far!**

 **This chapter was actually a lot longer, like, a LOT, but I chopped it in half and so you are reading the first half. Again, please leave a review if you read it!**


	7. Chapter 7

They were interrupted by the loud altercation on the dance floor. Even at their distance, the gasps travelled far and wide at the sudden burst of volume. They turned to see Davina storming onto the small platform area, determination in her eyes as she made her way straight to Bonnie. Bonnie had been slow dancing with Jeremy when she was pulled back by the shoulder to face the red-faced girl.

Klaus and Caroline stood from their seated position immediately as they witnessed the slap to Bonnie's face. An embarrassed Kol was already behind the girl, holding her back from doing any more damage. Still, the pair rushed down to the area to be at the forefront of the commotion.

"What is wrong with you?!" Bonnie was quick to speak. Jeremy stood by her side cautiously.

"With me? I don't know. Finding out that you've been sleeping with my boyfriend really doesn't have me in a good mood, Bonnie," Davina spat as if acid was releasing from her mouth.

In that moment, a pin drop from far away could have been heard in the silence that surrounded them. Everyone, including Caroline and Klaus, were too shocked to even formulate some sort of reaction.

Kol kept a hold on Davina's arm but she shook herself away from his grip, glaring at him profusely.

"Don't touch me!" she shouted, stomping off to the main building and leaving everyone to sit in the wreckage of her words.

Bonnie stared with a petrified expression, her body frozen in a tense position.

"Bon?"

The dark-haired girl slowly turned to view a very confused and shocked Jeremy, whose gaze was clinging onto the hope of a misunderstanding. She swallowed nervously, pleading with him through her facial expressions.

Quickly, devastation unravelled on the poor man's face before transitioning into anger as he looked upon Kol.

He stormed his way to him, shouting, "You've been sleeping with my fiancée?!"

"Jeremy, mate—" Kol stumbled back, palms up in defence.

"Don't 'mate' me!"

Klaus made sure to step in, pressing a hand to Jeremy's chest in hopes of quelling the boy's rage and intent to do harm. He was sure that his actions may have been only a temporary solution in that the anger would only continue to build. Still, his brother needed someone to step up for him.

"You are all making a scene," Klaus spoke with a firm voice, like a parent to a child, and looked around at the group. Caroline watched him with wide eyes and he looked at her for a moment with reassurance. Out of all the things that could turn an event ugly, the revelation of an affair was by far the worst on the list.

Jeremy glanced at Klaus' chest. They could all see his deep thought over what action he wished to take next. It was clear what he wanted to do, but thankfully, Jeremy left it at a death stare for the youngest Mikaelson and took Bonnie's hand as he walked away from the dance floor.

"Come on."

They witnessed Bonnie look back at Kol, her eyes filled with tears.

"Rebekah, take Kol home…now," Klaus ordered, his stare now piercing Kol as he faced him.

Rebekah stepped in with a nod and Matt readied his keys from his pocket with a fair amount of fumbling. The female Mikaelson took her brother by the wrist and forced him in the direction of Matt's car. They, too, were then gone from the now badly affected event.

In the midst of the drama, the band had stopped its music and those who still lingered at the event had their eyes on the commotion. Caroline realised this and anxiously paced towards to band, encouraging them to start up their music once more.

"Guys," she pleaded with the band and they abruptly began playing a mid-tempo song in an attempt to lighten the mood.

Caroline breathed out in a panic, her hand pressed to her stomach. The perfect event was now tainted by the recent revelation and people awkwardly stood about, unable to comprehend the situation. Gradually, chattering occurred amongst those left and they soon removed themselves from the dance floor. It was as if there was a mutual understanding that it was time to go. She could not blame them, although she blamed Davina heavily for choosing the event to air her dirty laundry.

"Caroline," the young April rushed to her side, "People are looking like they're going to leave."

"Yeah…" Caroline muttered, staring into the distance, "Let them leave if they want, it's late enough as is."

She attempted to reassure herself that it was eight o'clock at night and the event had been running for a number of hours. Surely, it would have been a sufficient amount of time to leave a good memory in people's minds, despite what had transpired. Caroline watched as the attendees awkwardly attempted to avoid the dance floor.

"Hey, Care, we'll help liven the party," Katherine spoke up, moving to pat the girl on the shoulder.

"Yeah, thanks. I'll be inside for a moment, if that's alright," Caroline pressed her lips together firmly. They all nodded in response to which Caroline immediately headed indoors.

* * *

Not long after she entered, tending to decoration removal of the inside, Elena appeared with a sigh.

"It's been such a perfect evening," the brunette began, helping her friend remove the tightly knotted ribbons from the bannister.

"No one was really around, and anyone who was, was completely wasted," Elena continued, comforting Caroline.

Caroline looked up with a small smile, fingers lingering on a ribbon that Elena also held, "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Her smile grew a little larger at the reassuring tone.

"You know, it's a shame Cami wasn't here. I couldn't work my magic with her and Klaus tonight," Elena turned the conversation around, smiling playfully.

Caroline's facial expression dropped. After everything, Elena was still thinking about turning the cogs within their friendship circle.

The blonde moved away from the bannister, her fingers slipping from the ribbon, and rolled her eyes, "Yeah, _real_ shame."

Elena then frowned slightly. She had finished untying the ribbon and clung to it as she followed the girl away from the stairs.

"I'm so shocked about…it all," Elena continued to speak, now, with a saddened tone, "I thought Davina and Kol were perfect for each other…and Bonnie and Jeremy… I can't believe the couples I put together are falling apart."

Again, it was all about her and her matchmaking. Caroline had listened to her speak about the most trivial and senseless stuff regarding their friends and who they were dating for years. There was not a single feeling of care within Caroline. Even in the tragedy of it all, Elena focused on herself and how she was so sad that her magic love fairy nonsense did not pan out.

She let a scoff slip and she replied with a smirk, "Well, you can't always be right, Elena, just like with me and Tyler. You're being mopey over something so stupid. This is what you get when you waste your life focusing on people's love lives."

As she trailed on, she sauntered across the room, her voice dripping with a bitter tone.

There was a pause, but Elena soon replied harshly, "Cut it out."

The blonde immediately turned her focus to the girl. This was a new feeling within her speech that Caroline had not received before.

"You are being so…self-righteous!"

Caroline blinked out of confusion, unable to reply as Elena ranted on.

"You know, I see you judging me! Ever since I dropped out of school, you have judged everything I've done!"

Elena stomped up to meet Caroline physically, standing only a meter away, "I like to pair people up. So, what? You're just bitter."

The blonde laughed and rolled her eyes, "Bitter?"

"Yeah! You're bitter because there's no one left for you and the only chance you had walked out!"

Caroline stood there, mouth agape, but quickly her face twisted in anger, "What the hell, Elena?!"

She stepped back from her friend, widening their distance.

"You even judge me for deciding not to have children!"

"Well, yeah because it's not your decision! It's his!" Caroline rebutted.

It was Elena's turn to scoff, which she did in the most dramatic way she could.

"You act so holier than thou, Care," she started, her voice cutting deep as she pointed a finger at Caroline, "But you're not better than me just because you got a degree and are ' _elevated_ ' above us ' _town-folk_ '. No wonder Tyler left you."

The blonde stared, at a complete loss for words. Her brain attempted to decipher the tirade of words hauled her against her by someone who she had thought was her best friend. In the time since Tyler had broken up with her, or even prior to that, not once had she voiced such displeasure over Caroline's actions and opinions.

"I'm leaving," Elena finished their dramatic scene, throwing the ribbon in her hand to the floor, and exited through the back to find Damon.

Caroline looked down at the ribbon and scowled.

"Caroline…?"

She was interrupted by Klaus' appearance behind her.

"I…" she breathed out, refusing to face him.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news but the lights on the fountain have stopped working and…from what I've witnessed, I'm guessing Elena is intending to leave."

She slowly turned, looking at him with hurt in her eyes.

"Hey," he quickly said, his hands grasping at the sides of her arms.

"I need to go get my bag from upstairs," she blinked aggressively to fight away tears and pulled back from him, making a swift move to the stairs.

Before she had even made it to the top of the winding stairs, Klaus was behind her. Concern was written over his face as he followed her to a corner study. He had not seen such a damaged expression from the usually strong and confident blonde.

Caroline groaned as she searched for the room's key, finally huffing as she found it hidden in one of the plants on a mahogany side table. She wiggled it in the lock forcefully, nearly falling into the room as the door opened unexpectedly. Klaus reflexively held an arm out but sighed out of relief as she regained her composure.

"Caroline," he said softly, entering the room behind her, and shut the door.

"Mm?" she hummed in response, rummaging through the bag she left on the study room's desk. Being the only one with access, she had taken it upon herself to use it as her private coat room and panic room if the event became too much. At this point, it was safe to say there had been panic. Fortunately, Caroline had become less panicked, but unfortunately, this panic was replaced with what she could only call rage.

Klaus watched her pull out her phone and dismay at what he presumed to be a lack of messages.

Caroline unlocked her phone and made a quick text to April. She could not handle the clean-up of the event on top of her frantic emotions.

"I—" she started, but immediately stopped before slamming her phone on the desk surface, "I can't believe her."

"No?" he replied in an effort to spark conversation.

"Apparently, I'm self-righteous!" she threw her arms in the air, "That…bitch!"

Klaus' eyes widened at her language and he stepped forward in a gesture of reassurance.

"Surely, it was just a heat of the moment thought."

Caroline shook her head instantly, "Nope. Obviously, it's been brewing in her mind for like, forever, along with the plans to pair people up like little dolls and follow Damon around like a little puppy!"

"Well, perhaps…"

"Perhaps?"

She challenged him with her piercing eye contact to speak further, feeling the distance close between them.

"Caroline," he once again had his strong hands placed on her arms. The warmth flowed onto her skin and she felt a slight sense of calm.

Caroline and Klaus shared a long gaze as they both searched each other for something. What that was something was, she could not tell. Neither could he.

"Do you agree with her?" she asked suddenly.

Klaus held his thought for a long moment but soon answered, "I do not believe I have the knowledge required of your relationship with her to make that decision."

Caroline looked down, nodding slowly.

"Hey, look," he tilted his head slightly to encourage her eye contact, "Whether she is right or wrong, who cares?"

 _I care…_ she thought to herself, looking at him silently. She cared. She _did_ care. It seemed like there was nothing that could deter her from caring about what Elena thought.

The whole altercation was racing in her mind a million times over like a rogue DVD player stuck on a loop. Every single thing Elena had said was piercing into Caroline's mind: being called self-righteous; being called holier than thou; being called bitter, and then she mentioned Tyler. Caroline clenched her jaw at that thought. The girl had made sure to stick the knife where it would hurt most of all and twist it until no more could be bared.

Caroline looked at Klaus in the eyes and then looked away, contemplating. She was also a pawn in Elena's game and by being left by Tyler she had obviously put a spanner in the works. There was no way she would let herself be a pawn. Not anymore.

Purposefully, she looked Klaus in the eyes once again and slipped from his grasp, key in hand as she walked to the door.

"Klaus," she said, her emotions weighing heavily on her words.

He raised an eyebrow, taking a number of steps behind her. His eyebrows knitted together in confusion as he heard her lock the door and test it with a gentle wiggle of the handle.

"Caroline?"

Caroline turned around, leaving the key in the lock, and reached to unzip her dress as she moved forward. Surprisingly, it was effortless and had not been met with any hitches of the fabric snagging. She thanked whatever there was to thank for letting no awkwardness occur.

"I've stopped caring now," she stated tenderly, her gaze becoming sultry as she let the dress fall to reveal her scantily clad body.

Klaus swallowed, scanning the curves of her familiar frame. He allowed her to take his hand along her upper thigh and graze it over her red lingerie. Her panties were a simple lace, something she had not thought through completely. In all honesty, she had picked the nearest set of clean lingerie and called it a day.

"Are you sure?" he muttered while her own fingers trailed up his jacket teasingly.

"I've never been more sure," she replied and removed his jacket forcefully, allowing it to hit the creaking floorboards.

He absentmindedly ran his hands up her arms and along to the straps of her bra, staring intently at her. The one thing that had almost made her stay that time in the car was now a fond memory in her mind. She returned his gaze, her breath slowing in the newfound calmness.

"I want you," she whispered before roughly pulling him in for a kiss.

He could not react as she took his lips in with her own, moving with a passion that he instantly returned. She felt soft against him, her lips melting into his and vice versa. He took the moments of clarity to unbutton his shirt and remove his tie as she drew her body closer to his. Caroline aided in pulling his shirt down and immediately took to removing the thin shirt underneath, exposing his chest of tattoos and unanswered scars. She removed herself from him only to slip out of her heels and he took that as a cue to remove the rest of his clothing and shoes. It was a rushed process with the only end game being that she would find herself wrapped in him once more.

They stumbled further back, attached to one another, and she hoisted herself up onto the large desk.

"If I have to be naked then so do you," he teased, his words muffled under her lips.

Caroline giggled softly, "Then why don't you help me?"

Klaus grinned without a reply, slipping the bra straps off of her shoulder and unclasping the back of the garment. He helped her throw it away before returning to the heated dance of their lips. His fingers twiddled about with her panties as he focused his mouth to the curve of her neck. She groaned softly and draped an arm over his shoulder to encourage him.

Caroline froze as her embarrassing Spice Girls ringtone played out to the side of them. Klaus stopped, his lips hovering over her skin, and began to laugh.

"Big fan, are we?"

The blonde covered her pink cheeks with her hands and reached for her phone, taking a look at the caller ID.

"It's April," she whined, answering the call to Klaus' dismay. However, he momentarily smirked, taking the opportunity to kiss along her shoulder once she had already answered the phone.

Caroline scrunched up her nose in frustration, "Hey, April!"

She bit her lip, feeling his teeth run lightly across her collar bone.

"Did you go home? Would have been nice if you'd have told me in person instead of a text," an annoyed April replied.

"Mhm—" Caroline's fingers curled in an effort to subdue her pleasure, "You can handle cleaning up, right? The other volunteers will help—"

She held the phone away for a moment; Klaus had begun to lay kisses over her breasts. Placing the phone next to her ear once more, she listened.

"That's the thing; no one's listening to me!"

"I really have to go, April, okay? You'll be fine! Consider this hands on training for your own event," Caroline attempted to put her mind at rest.

"But—"

"I'll see you Monday," she finished, hanging up, and threw the phone off to the side. It landed alongside her bra on the floor. She only hoped there would be no damage, but her worries were soon dispelled as Klaus groaned into his kisses.

"Someone's going to have to sneak out of here undetected," he spoke, a dark playfulness in his voice, and looked up at her.

"Shut up and do me," she commanded firmly.

Klaus grinned, both of his brows rising.

"Please," she continued sweetly.

He licked his upper lip gently before roughly removing the items on the desk with a swift arm movement. Caroline laughed, shifting back on the desk with a devilish glint in her eyes. Klaus moved forward, returning to kiss her on the lips. She let her fingers hold against his cheeks as his tongue explored her mouth. She shivered at the touch of his hands making their way down her torso to meet her panties once again. He broke free from their kiss only for his mouth to follow the path of his hands, his lips making sure to appreciate every inch of her.

Caroline bit her lip in anticipation, watching him slowly remove her panties and pull them down her legs.

"You're the worst," she giggled, her hair swaying as she shook her head.

"My," he started, slipping her panties off completely before kissing the inside of her thigh.

"Mm…"

"We had better change that," he suggested, his lips choosing their spot to mark.

Klaus bit down on the area gently, sucking with a force that undoubtedly teased the blonde woman more. At least, she thought, he was generous enough to mark her in a discreet place that only the two of them could see.

"Making your claim?"

When finished, he kissed the spot and glanced at her, an unapologetic smirk on his lips. Before she could speak further, he was quick to shut her up by returning to kiss closer to her delicate centre and eventually take his claim over that as well.

Sucking in a breath, Caroline let her head fall back slowly. Her nails dragged across the surface of the desk without care. In turn, he snaked his arms around her slender legs to hold her close, and made work of his tongue. She gasped quietly, feeling his warmth take over her mercilessly.

"Right…there," she told him in between bated breaths.

Klaus alternated between a slow and fast pace, focusing most of his attention on her clit. Carefully, he removed one arm from her leg and inserted a finger into her, glancing at her face as he did so.

"Fuck," she muttered, her body tightening at the new element at play, before he inserted a second finger.

He smirked in between his contact with her core, quickening his pace once more as he felt her grasp at his hair.

"Oh my gosh—like that—like that."

Klaus took the opportunity to keep his other arm around her leg tightly as he heard her moans escape without respite. Caroline felt her end nearing and let herself rest back against the hard desk surface completely. Her hands grasped at his hair, tugging him further into her.

He took the cue to make his final actions, swirling his tongue and hitting it firmly against her tender spot. The blonde writhed and moaned out louder than she had intended, instinctively placing a palm to her open mouth. She hoped April nor any of the other people working the event had decided to wander upstairs, but goodness, she did not care a single bit.

Caroline gasped as he finally had her where he wanted her; her body tensed at the immense feeling. She whimpered as he pulled his fingers out and detached himself from her heat, running her fingertips along her torso satisfactorily.

With only a moment to recoil, he roughly brought her forward on the desk to meet his body.

"You…" she breathed out, sitting herself up slowly.

Klaus chuckled and picked her up by the waist. Caroline assisted him, crossing her legs around his naked waist and holding her arms around his neck. He carried her along to a near bookcase, holding her against it.

"I think we're in a scholar's wet dream right now," she whispered into his ear jokingly, her fingers teasing his back gently.

"Well, it would be wrong of us not to immerse ourselves in the experience, Miss Forbes," he responded wittily, nipping at her neck.

"Mr. Mikaelson. I hope you've been peer-reviewed," she giggled, internally groaning at her embarrassing response. He laughed aloud, viewing her with a cheeky grin.

"Now," she darkened her tone of voice, taking him by the chin, "I think you have some more papers to grade."

Klaus laughed grasping at her ass, kneading it as he leant in for a kiss. She reciprocated, biting his lip with force, and welcomed him as he inserted himself into her. The pair groaned in unison as they connected with one another. Caroline deepened the kiss further while his strong arms rocked her up and down onto him. He succumbed to a moan inside her mouth, moaning, too, and tightened his grip on her.

The blonde used her own strength to move in time with his movements, removing herself from the kiss only when she felt their movements speed up. She connected their gazes, boring her soul into his as he growled her name.

"Caroline—fuck—"

Hearing his damning accent in the way she had heard it their first night together, she whimpered in delight. Their skin burned in contact with one another. In the heat, he relocated them to the desk, laying her down on the end of it to forcefully move into her with ease.

Klaus grunted as she arched her back on the cold surface, accentuating her curves even more so.

"I'm close," he managed to get out, slamming into her without apology. Caroline moaned, nodding, and stared at him with intense passion. In this, she felt him release inside of her, and gasped softly at the sensation. The strong man's body curled inwards at his orgasm, collapsing over the woman in his grasp.

The blonde breathed slowly, kissing him tenderly as he was brought down to her. After a long kiss, he slipped out of her, taking her hand and pulling her to sit up. She was met with a smiling Klaus, to which she giggled quietly and toyed with his fingers.

"I suppose we should get out of here, love."

* * *

 **A/N: I had intended to let you all suffer on the cliffhanger for a few days at the very least, but seeing the few reviews that came in made me cave haha! Thank you for reading, and I hope you have enjoyed this chapter.**

 **I would really appreciate any reviews since this chapter has been so fun to write! It's also my first "full" smut scene so...I tried really hard to write it well.**

 **Side note:** **I have a lot of things on at the moment so I'm not sure when the next chapter will be posted. Hopefully it will be soon!**


	8. Chapter 8

The young blonde outstretched in a super king-size bed, her body entangled in a satin grey sheet. Her hair had stuck to her face with the drool that had unfortunately made its great escape during the long sleep. Somehow, she had managed to get one hand trapped between the pillow and its thin grey cover. Caroline was also now dressed in one of Klaus' oversized t-shirts that he had passed her the night before. She contemplated stealing it because of the cute, worn out, red text reading 'Thunderbirds'. Although comfy, in moving her arm, the stiffness appeared instantly.

Lifting her head, Caroline listened to the sound of water running and its soothing quality had her mind feeling sleepy. She patted her cheeks gently in an effort to wake herself, sitting up in the large bed. The mattress had been a heavenly delight that she could just sink into, but it was worrying that she could see herself unable to wake up in future.

To the side of the room was a large, dark brown door, which was cracked open slightly, a yellow light seeping through. Her mind waking up slowly, she realised that the water belonged to the shower and that the shower belonged to a certain handsome man.

Caroline wiggled her shoulders in a tantrum-like way, understanding the situation entirely. She needed to confront herself with the decisions of the night before, specifically, the devilishly enticing decisions. Not only had she forgone her whole relationship with Elena, she had simultaneously began a new one with Klaus. Thinking about it while sat in the middle of the mattress, she could not seem to find any regrets. She was almost proud of herself that she had managed to act on her desires without later feeling like she owed Elena anything. It was definitely a gold-star moment.

After the raunchy sex in the study of the Founder's Hall, Caroline and Klaus had gotten dressed in a relaxed manner only to then realise she had forgotten where she had left the key. Frantically, she had searched for elusive object, not noticing its shape on the hardwood flooring of the room. Once she had successfully found it and lambasted herself for freaking out internally, they sneaked out of the building with what Klaus joked as 'Mission: Impossible – Sex Protocol'. Luckily, when they had left, April was nowhere to be found in the main building and they made a quick exit through the front.

Caroline had not really thought about going home, so when they hopped into Klaus' car, she let him make the decision. He had decided his house would be best, until they arrived and realised that both Kol and Rebekah would be home. Urging forward, they made their second sneaky mission into the mansion. She immediately warned Klaus about making a sequel joke to his earlier reference. Rebekah seemed to be missing from the house, to which Klaus explained she may have only dropped Kol off in favour of staying at Matt's. Kol, however, could be heard in the living room, talking quietly on the phone. To whom, they could not figure out, but they took the opportunity to make the rest of the journey to Klaus' large abode.

Between freshening up in the bathroom and getting lost in each other's bodies for the second time that night, there was no time to take a good look at the Brit's bedroom in detail. It was decidedly much larger than her own and much less colourful. Scanning all of the room's decorations, she wondered if it would kill him to add a dash of something…not grey…or black.

Caroline laughed quietly at the thought and slid off the bed, slinking to the bathroom door with a mischievous glint in her eyes. The bathroom was filled with steam and it leaked out through the crevice of the door. She pulled the door open slowly before stepping inside, leaning against the door frame playfully. Through the steam she could make out his body behind the pane of glass. She bit her lip watching his muscular arm rise up and down to wash his body, the suds of soap running down.

So lost in her thoughts, she had not noticed that after a few moments, he had turned, viewing Caroline with an amused expression. With a squeak, the metal lever of the shower was turned down and he opened the door wide, leaning similarly against the shower's door.

"Morning, love."

The sleepy blonde laughed at his package so openly showcased to her.

"Good morning…" she trailed off, her eyes wandering.

"Care to join me?" he tilted his head, chest glistening from the water.

"Sounds tempting," she hummed, crossing her arms, "But I think if we do, our sex might become dangerously…pornographic-like, especially after yesterday's office 'rendezvous'."

"I wouldn't be against that…" Klaus smiled cheekily, stepping out of the shower and wrapping a towel around his waist.

"Well, they're not all bad scenarios; I like the pizza delivery one," she grinned, pausing, "For the free pizza, of course."

Klaus chuckled, taking her hand, "Of course. I can get you pizza if that is what you desire."

He leaned in for a kiss but she immediately pressed her palm to his lips, shaking her head.

"I have morning breath."

Pulling her hand down, he raised an eyebrow, "That did not stop me the morning after we met, and you had had a number of drinks, love."

Opening her mouth to reply, Caroline then frowned and crossed her arms.

The half-naked man smirked, kissing her cheek gently before leading her back into the bedroom. She immediately hopped back onto the bed, giggling as she did so.

"I think I could get used to a bed as extravagant as this, y'know?"

Klaus had strolled over to his drawers before glancing back at the girl with a grin.

"Do you now? Well, I suppose I could get used to seeing you in my bed and wearing my clothes," he commented, pulling open one drawer and grabbing a clean shirt.

Caroline simply smiled, tugging at the ends of the large, grey t-shirt wrapped around her legs. Klaus threw on a white, Henley shirt, the residues of moisture on his upper half absorbing in the fabric. He slipped his legs into a pair of boxers followed by black jeans before sitting on the edge of the bed beside the girl.

"Is clothing mandatory today?" he queried, a playfulness in his smile, "Because I have no complaints if you wish to stay like this, love, and furthermore, no complaints if you wish to take off what I have just put on."

He pulled her to straddle his lap, his tough hands on her creamy white thighs.

Caroline smiled knowingly, "Like I said," she removed herself from sitting upon him, "We might turn into a feature-length porno if we keep on going like this."

The blonde watched as he nodded reluctantly, smiling slightly as she lay back with her strands of hair a mess on the bed. He crawled next to her, laying his face down opposite to admire her tired face.

"Do you regret last night?" he asked to her dismay.

She shook her head immediately, reaching a hand over his stubbly cheek, "No. I didn't regret the first time either."

Caroline placed her lips on his for a long moment, welcoming his tongue as it slipped into her mouth. She let the kiss run its course before pulling back with a soft smile. He scrunched up his nose, holding his hand over hers. There was a wish inside of him for the kiss to continue as the feeling of her lingered. She gently tugged her hand back, her smile teasing his thoughts.

"So, did you want to talk about last night?" he questioned suddenly and sat up.

She, too, sat up and tilted her head, "The sex?"

Klaus chuckled and shook his head, "No… The Elena incident."

"Oh…"

Caroline looked down, drawing circles on her knee gently. She had avoided allowing her thoughts to go into detail of the events.

"I'm not sure there's much to talk about as far as Elena goes," Caroline commented coldly.

Before he could formulate a reply, her words came tumbling out, "I mean— I can't believe her! I'm not judgemental, am I? It's not my fault she's spending the rest of her life obsessing over other people's lives."

"Well…without knowing all of the details, it may be that the way she has acted has made you resent her, and in turn, she sees it as judgement," he theorised, shrugging as he watched her sort through his words.

She stared but soon nodded in agreement, "That must be it…"

The frustrated blonde leaned against the metal bar on the back of the bed. For the first time in a long time, Caroline and Elena were not on speaking terms. What a wild thought it was. Sometimes when they were teenagers, they would have tiffs over stealing each other's clothing or taking the last cupcake. At no point, had Caroline and Elena fallen out officially. She knew that if the argument had been with anyone else, Elena would not hear the end of it from Caroline. Still, Elena would listen and agree with whatever opinion Caroline had harboured. She momentarily smiled at that thought.

Weirdly, it was the opinions of Elena that kept Caroline from pursuing anything with Klaus, and it was the pursuit of Klaus that led to the rapid decline of Caroline and Elena's friendship. She frowned. How she had acted previously was now trapped in her mind.

"I'm sorry, by the way," she muttered, avoiding his eyes.

"For what?"

"For…well…I guess a lot of things," she let out a small laugh, "Mainly for how I acted outside of the coffee shop that time—you know, with Cami."

"To your credit, you were right," he admitted, gaining a giggle from the girl.

"You were also right," she sighed suddenly, "I care way too much about Elena's opinions."

"It cannot be helped."

Caroline glanced at him doubtfully, "Aren't you the one who is the most opposed to that?"

"Always," he laughed, taking in her gaze, "However, I am sure you have good reason enough to put her opinions before your own."

She swallowed, contemplating silently.

"She's just…"

"Just..?"

"I gotta say…it feels like I've broken up with a boyfriend."

"Mm…for the best?"

She stared at him unsure, her legs curled up into her chest, "I'm not one hundred percent on that just yet."

"You see," she continued speaking, facing Klaus with her whole body, "I've never not had Elena in my life. So, everything we've ever done has revolved around each other and because of that, I can't help but think of her opinions, you know? And then, she's been there every freaking time I've had a mental breakdown."

Caroline laughed, rubbing her eye gently of the sleep trapped in the corner of it. Klaus could not help but smile at her gushing over her once-best friend.

"She was there when my dad left, when Tyler left…and when my mom died…and I was there for her when her parents died," she trailed away from her words, lost in her thoughts.

She looked directly at Klaus, questioning quietly, "How could I not care?"

The man stared intently at the pain in her eyes, which was even more evident in the creases of her facial expression. He instinctively reached for her hand.

"I suppose I can understand… My brother Elijah… He and I have had a tumultuous relationship at best, but I still care about my older brother's opinions at times. He still keeps trying to see the best in me for some reason," Klaus explained, looking off to the side with an embarrassed simper.

Caroline's pained expressions softened, warmth showing in the form of a small smile.

"Elijah? He's the one in New Orleans, right?"

"Mm…" he nodded slowly whilst he drew his finger along the back of her delicate hand, "That is the one…"

"Does he like New Orleans? I haven't really been anywhere apart from the East Coast," she lamented.

"It is…fantastic; everyone lives carelessly and they dance the night through. You would love it."

"Really?"

The idea of living carelessly had her eyes lighting up like twinkling stars. It was as if she was a child learning about fairy tales for the very first time.

He sat up straighter, smiling fervently, "The French Quarter is beautiful, especially at night."

The blonde hummed softly, imagining the bustling streets underneath starlight.

"Maybe, I will take you some day."

His eyes sparked mischievously.

Caroline looked at him, her hair swaying as she laughed in disbelief, "Yeah, okay."

Klaus held out one of his pinky fingers, "Promise?"

She raised one eyebrow at his innocent expression but quickly smiled, linking her own finger, "Promise."

The blonde broke into laughter, taking it upon herself to consume him in a kiss. He welcomed her into his arms, his fingers bunching up the ends of the t-shirt she wore. Her thighs sat comfortably either side of his legs and her hands roughly moved against his chest over the fabric between their skins. There was a gyration of her hips against him that brought out a moan between the two of them. Caroline grinned as she felt the hardness grow more prominent against her body. His teeth teased her supple lips while his fingers did the same underneath her clothing.

There was a moment in which she remembered her morning breath and her closed eyes squeezed tightly before her feelings became completely devoured by his insatiable kisses. The further his hands hitched up her shirt, the more her mind forgot about everything they had discussed since she had woken up. He could have been talking about My Little Pony for all she cared, and she would still happily kiss him for the feelings it left her with.

* * *

Caroline grinned to herself, thinking of her escapades four days prior as she entered the coffee shop. They teased each other and pleasured each other similarly to previous entanglements. However, Caroline had to head home, to which Klaus had frowned, but he had obliged in giving her a lift. Unfortunately, their work meant that they could not see each other during the weekdays.

It was only a Thursday, but she excused herself early from the office in the belief that she deserved a coffee. She was in a different place than usual. A new establishment for her was almost unheard of and if Gus knew, she was sure the occasional freebies would cease to exist. Alas, she could not run the risk of seeing Elena and having the awkward exchanges followed by the awkward escaping that would undoubtedly follow.

The unfamiliar place was named 'Fresh Day'. It was a larger building compared to Gus', and it certainly attracted a larger number of people. The outside was painted a deep green colour and a plethora of red dahlia flowers were placed in holders along the windows and in pots along the floor. She admired them, resisting the urge to shove her nose into one on the off chance someone would notice, and stepped into the place. Like Gus', there was a small bell that welcomed her inside much to her delight. Unfortunately, the bell did not have the same, strong ring that the bell of her favourite café adorned.

Wandering to the line she noticed a familiar figure before her. As she could only see the girl's back, she refrained from tapping the person on the shoulder, but made sure to keep an eagle eye on whether she was correct in her recognition. Stepping forward with the line, she watched the dark haired girl's mid-length hair sway gently. She wore baggy sweatpants and a matching crop top, something that was unlike the girl in her mind.

"Hi! What can I get you?" a young, excitable redheaded barista spoke to the girl in front.

The girl spoke and Caroline widened her eyes. She was speechless for a moment, but once the girl had made her order, Caroline spoke, too.

"Bonnie?"

The dark-haired girl turned her head. It _was_ Bonnie. However, her eyes were tired and her general appearance was slightly dishevelled. Now, Bonnie Bennett was not the type to fuss over appearance to the extent that Caroline did, but to see her standing there, miserable in her stance, Caroline had been taken aback. Amidst her busy night, between the fight with Elena and then the sex with Klaus, the blonde's memory had been wiped of the bust up on the dance floor in which Davina revealed all.

"Hey, Care," Bonnie replied cautiously.

* * *

Once they had both collected their orders, they ushered themselves over to a corner table beside a small, brown bear statue. The bear looked like it had been pulled out of a story book from Caroline's childhood with its rough design. The whole café was filled with eclectic items, which were scattered about.

"So," Caroline began, sitting into a rickety, wooden chair, "You and Kol…"

She set down her coffee, watching Bonnie smile guiltily.

"Yeah," she replied shortly, taking a long sip of her lavender herbal tea.

The blonde let a smile slip, having smelled the strong herb wafting from her friend's mug; Bonnie had always had an aversion to coffee. Whenever she had joined them at Gus', there was not a day she did not choose tea over coffee. They attempted to coax her into liking coffee, and on one occasion succeeded in getting her to try, but she was consistent in her opinions. It was her grandmother, especially, who influenced that, with her focus on the natural healing of plants within their home.

"Well, when did this start?"

Caroline could not ease into the questions; it was a topic that had to begin with the rip of a band aid, not that Bonnie was afraid of answering honestly. The Bennett girl, in fact, had been used to acting independently. Naturally, Caroline and Elena were stuck at the hip and Bonnie was just content to be there along for the ride.

Bonnie stirred a small spoon around gently in her mug, "Recently… We've always been friendly—well, we spoke a lot—but a couple months ago, Jeremy and I were having problems, and Kol and Davina had hit a rough patch."

"But Kol? Really?" Caroline raised a pained eyebrow. As far as Caroline had been aware, the pair squabbled at any given chance from the moment they had met. It seemed that behind closed doors, things had slowly been developing.

"Look," Bonnie said firmly, placing the warm mug on the small table, "You might not get it, but I feel like I'm having fun with Kol! With Jeremy, it's just become this suburban nightmare where I cook dinner that's ready for him when he comes home."

The blonde stared at her friend, her words tapping into her deeper thoughts. It was true that the Bennett girl had fallen into the cycle of everything she hated about relationships. She would go and run the Wiccan shop that she had taken over from her grandmother, and come home early just to make food and bring in the laundry she had put out that morning.

"Jeremy is Elena's brother, though. Didn't you worry about what Elena would think? What she would say?" The blonde questioned.

"Elena?" Bonnie squinted, "This has nothing to do with Elena. I know it sounds crazy, but Kol and I have something that feels different."

Caroline pressed forward, "But Elena is our best friend, and didn't you think that if she found out—"

"Care, I know you two have…whatever going on—" she held up a finger, "Katherine told me—but you're projecting a lot of negative energy onto me. Who cares what Elena thinks?"

The blonde swallowed her feelings, burying her lips into a blueberry muffin.

"It's not just about sex either," Bonnie spoke quietly, leaning into the table, "We talk about things, like my mom. I have _never_ talked about it with Jeremy."

A touchy subject.

Abby Bennett was, according to Bonnie's grandmother, a loving mother, but to her father, not even a passing thought. It was only as a toddler, Bonnie had watched her mother pack up and leave for another life. Being an event that was embedded in the past, Bonnie barely remembered, but was reminded all throughout school. Missing a parental figure early on was something that Caroline related to. Even so, they had never mentioned Bonnie's mother or Caroline's father. They had a small, unspoken bond from a young age.

Caroline whined and leaned into the table, too, reaching a hand out, "Kol, though? Kol Mikaelson? In another life, he was probably a court jester."

Bonnie laughed and raised her hands in defeat, "I know."

The raven-haired girl then sighed, covering her forehead with her hands.

"I messed up, huh?"

She glanced at her friend for support.

"Kinda…yeah," Caroline admitted, wincing, "What happened after you left the event?"

Bonnie rolled her eyes, "I ended things, and Jeremy took it as Jeremy Gilbert always takes things: badly. I'm just glad he didn't punch a hole in the wall."

"You did break his heart, Bon," her friend reminded her.

She bit her lip and nodded slowly in defeat.

"I know. You can't help love, though, can you?"

Caroline's eyelashes fluttered in surprise, "You love him?"

"I think so, yeah," Bonnie replied in a huff, "Sometimes the heartbreak and ruined friendships are necessary."

Her mind was brought to the man she had in her grasp only days before. Bonnie could forgo the opinions of her friends and the consequences all for Kol Mikaelson of all people. Caroline could not even flirt with Klaus without Elena lingering in the back of her head.

"I'm hoping not all my friendships are ruined though."

The brunette looked at Caroline pleadingly.

Despite spending years together, Bonnie always did fall a little behind in their friendship of three. However, Bonnie was happy to do her own thing, and once she and Jeremy had become a couple, it was not a problem in the slightest. Still, Caroline thought at times that she could have taken the initiative to become close with Bonnie. It was now perhaps the right time to do that.

"You made a mistake," Caroline replied honestly, "But…if you love him…then, I guess it can't be helped, right? Attraction gets the best of us sometimes…"

She trailed off, a smile attempting to tug at her lip gloss covered lips, and picked up her coffee to drink.

Bonnie's brows furrowed as a grin appeared on her face, "You got something you wanna tell me?"

Caroline choked a little on the liquid and coughed, placing her drink down once more.

"You don't have say—"

"I slept with Klaus," she immediately confessed before sighing in relief.

Bonnie's jaw hung open.

"You are terrible at keeping secrets," the Bennett girl said simply.

Caroline grimaced.

"We've been talking about my scandal, but what about yours? When did this happen?" Bonnie interrogated playfully.

"The night of the pageant…and the day after, too. Well, actually, it started last month," said the blonde, hands over her eyes. She peeked through the gaps of her fingers in wait of her friend's reaction.

Bonnie gasped, a squeak involuntarily leaving her mouth.

"You can't tell Elena!" she was quick to say.

With the raise of an eyebrow, Bonnie responded, "Aren't you on the outs with her? What does that matter? Not that I'll be speaking to her any time soon anyway."

"I just... We're already on bad terms, but finding out I went against her plan of Cami and Klaus getting together on top of that?"

"Again, why does that matter? …Wait, rewind! Did you say you slept together last month?"

"Mhm."

"You only met Klaus—"

She gasped once more with a laugh, "Caroline Forbes! You floozy!

"Guilty," Caroline laughed along before frowning, "I slept with him 'cause I was pissed at Elena and her stupid matchmaking—he was also…so hot—but I don't know if I want to lose our friendship over that, Bon."

Bonnie looked at her flatly, "You think Elena would stop being friends with you over that? Fine, you slept with him to spite Elena, but what about the pageant or they day after, even? Why was that?"

Caroline pressed her lips together, "Because…I guess…I like him."

"I know why she's going to stop being friends with me: I cheated on her brother. You and Klaus? That's nothing," Bonnie rationalised.

The blonde only looked at her with doubt.

She had never been in this position with her best friend. If the night before was anything to go by, there was a chance of a full on war.

"Care, look, if this is something fleeting and you think it would ruin your friendship, it's not really worth it, but _is_ it fleeting?"

There were no words that Caroline could force out; she just kept silent with thoughts buzzing through her mind at a million miles an hour. Was it fleeting?

* * *

After saying their goodbyes, Caroline took the long walk home to clear her thoughts. She did have a lot to think about. At that moment, she wanted nothing more than to wrap herself back up in Klaus' arms and act as though Elena did not exist, but what would she do in the grand scheme of things? The walk was the perfect opportunity to decide.

She made sure to take cuts down through different streets to divert her path from crossing Elena's. Even walking past her house would have made her feel uneasy.

It was a little cloudy, and Caroline worried that she may be caught in the rain, hoping the forecasted weather would turn out to be false. Near to the end of her journey, her phone was ringing.

It was Klaus.

Caroline breathed out slowly, answering, "Hey."

"Good afternoon, sweetheart. Fancy a drink now?"

She laughed softly at his colloquialisms and the warmth in his voice, "It's barely five o'clock… Are you paying?"

"Of course," he answered without question, "Or if you prefer, I could get you pizza and we can play out the scenario you mentioned."

"You would prefer that one, I'm guessing."

"All your decision."

"Well, I'm on my way home now," she drawled, swaying slightly as she walked.

"We could go to that grill place everyone mentions to me whenever I ask whether there's anything interesting in this town," he suggested teasingly.

Caroline caught herself in her daze at the premise of meeting in public. They had currently been a little secret between the two of them, although Bonnie had now been privy to the details, and she hoped to keep it that way until she figured out the mess of it all.

"Like a date?" she raised an eyebrow.

"If that is what you would like to call it."

A smirk was plastered across his face without a doubt.

"That wasn't what I was saying, Klaus."

"Well, _Caroline_ , that is what _I_ am saying."

Caroline paused in her steps, looking around the street she was on. Before she had decided on what the next step would be, he seemed to have made that decision himself. A date. Maybe, she wondered, it was a good step and a necessary one to make her mind up.

"Caroline?"

She shook herself out of her thoughts and continued to walk.

"Sorry, yeah, it's a date," she responded half-heartedly, "Why don't you just come to mine? In an hour?"

"It's a date."

* * *

The blonde bounced on her heels as she waited for the handsome man to arrive. She had rushed to do her makeup and curl her hair once she had chosen an appropriate dress. Her palms felt so sweaty and her nerves continued to be a plague on her mind.

At the ring of the bell, she jumped to answer the door, smiling widely.

"Klaus!" she greeted, clearing her throat at the realisation of her over-excited tone, "I mean…hey."

The Brit grinned as he turned to view her at the door frame, a bouquet of flowers in hand.

"Evening," he returned a greeting, offering her the bouquet.

Caroline smiled coyly, taking the gift, "Thank you."

She laughed to herself, admiring the red roses he had so generously splashed out on.

"Did I do well, Miss Forbes?"

"Definitely," she answered, pulling him in past the threshold, "I also accept cash."

He laughed, taking his jacket off. Before he could bring it to the familiar closet, Caroline removed it from his person and hung it on the spare hook.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," she hummed, her hands slipping from the fabric, "Now, I didn't really have any time to cook so…I ordered pizza."

Caroline giggled at Klaus' teasing expression, making her way to the living room, "Don't. It's on the coffee table."

He threw his hands up and smiled sweetly, "I assure you my thoughts are pure."

She threw a glance back at him as he upheld his innocent expression.

"Though," he rushed to her side, hands placed on her waist, and pressed his lips to her neck, "I believe we have a chance to act out the delivery scene now."

Caroline laughed quietly but soon held a hand to his chest, "Can I be serious for a moment?"

"By all means."

Sucking in a breath, she spoke, "We're not just sex, are we? Because I…I don't want this all to be for nothing."

Confusion flashed on his face but Klaus cupped her cheeks, planting a kiss on her lips softly, "I'm not a walking penis, love; I have feelings, too."

She stared but laughed aloud, her fingers snaking around his wrists, "So…"

"So…? Pizza?"

"Pizza," Caroline replied with a smile, leading him to the couch.

* * *

"So, let me get this straight: You and Elijah walked down Bourbon street with nothing but…hats on your…"

"Lady gardens?"

She giggled and nodded, gripping the wine glass in her hand.

They had sat on the couch, devouring slice after slice of pizza, and had drank an old bottle of red wine liberally. Her shoes were now strung across the rug underneath the coffee table and her feet were propped up on the couch. Meanwhile, he had found his tie removed and dropped onto the glass table.

"When in New Orleans, I guess," Caroline joked and poured the small remainder of wine into her mouth.

"Easy, love," he took the glass from her and placed it aside, "We would not want you to have a 'When in Mystic Falls' moment tonight."

She sighed and giggled, shifting against the pillows, "Did doing something like that get you those scars on your chest?"

Klaus' expression dropped slightly, but he nonetheless replied, "My father Mikael's handy work. He had a habit of taking things out on me, even took my favourite horse to be slaughtered once."

She refrained from gasping, but her heart skipped a beat at his words. All that she had expected was a simple, light-hearted story about injuring himself as a teenager. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

"Your father? The father you work for?"

"Is there any other?" he joked, "Well, there is: my biological father."

"Wow," said Caroline. She could only muster up a single word.

They sat there for a moment in silence, but Caroline could not handle the empty air.

"Do you know your real father?"

"He's some random thug, according to Mikael. That is what he likes to tell me every chance he gets anyway," Klaus shrugged.

"Why do you work for Mikael then?" the blonde became a little more ambitious with her questions.

"I am…undecided on that question. It used to be about money and just getting by, but I am not so sure anymore."

Caroline only nodded and reached to hold his hand, shuffling closer on the piece of furniture.

"Now, care to share _your_ resentments of family members with me?" he asked, welcoming her hand into his.

"Uh, well, I guess we're two for two on the daddy issues," she laughed and shook her head, "My dad left when I was a kid. He fell in love some guy and I guess I wasn't enough to keep him in town."

Klaus looked at her sadly, squeezing her hand, "He is a fool. He did not get to see the amazing person you are."

Caroline smiled softly, holding her free hand to his cheek, and kissed him. He reciprocated with a similar gentle movement, letting her slip away as it came to a natural end.

"It's getting late," she muttered, swiping off some stray gloss from his lip.

He nodded, choosing to kiss her once more before rising from the seat.

It was now a worry for both of them that if they ventured further, there relationship would just be about sex, though they desperately wanted that contact.

She, too, followed his actions, and proceeded to pick up his tie and wrap it around his neck. They locked glances, their actions tipping along the line of attraction, but Caroline quickly averted her eyes. She brought him to the entrance, returning his jacket to his muscly stature.

"This has been…" she trailed off, laughing quietly, "Fun."

"Definitely an above average evening, I would say," he commented humorously, watching her open the front door for him.

"Definitely," she agreed, her gaze oozing intrigue as she leaned against the door.

"Sleep well, love."

"You, too."

Caroline could not contain her smile as he kissed her cheek before he wandered down the path of the front of her home.

Once the door was shut, her feelings burst in the form of a whine and palms to her cheeks.

"Get a hold of yourself, Caroline," she reprimanded herself, spinning slowly in the entrance. The blonde made quick work of the mess they had made, crushing down the now empty pizza box and collecting the glasses on the table. She then threw the box into the trash, humming as she did so.

As she washed the wine glasses, the doorbell rang. She grinned to herself, feeling his presence nearby. Obviously, he could not contain himself, and neither could she. The moment she would open that door, she planned to yank him back in by the tie.

Caroline sauntered over to the door, swinging it open carelessly, "Back for more, are we—?"

"Hey, Care."

Her previously raunchy thoughts were replaced as her heart stopped momentarily at the figure before her.

"Tyler," she whispered.

* * *

 **Thank you for waiting patiently for this chapter! I know it has been a couple weeks since the last so I hope you have enjoyed this update! Also, thank you very very much for the lovely reviews on last chapter and I would appreciate if the same could be done for this one as well. I also want to welcome all the new followers of the story! So, welcome haha!**

 **If you don't, follow me on tumblr at .com for progress updates!**


	9. Chapter 9

He was a blast from the past. A locked up story in the vault of her mind.

Tyler Lockwood was someone she had attended middle school and high school with. Throughout those years, they had only crossed paths a number of times. It was at their graduation, by the off chance, that Caroline had bumped into him as she visited her locker for the last time. Removing her books from her locker, she had dropped the yearbook that she had believed to be safely lodged in the crook her arm. She had crouched to pick it up and found a tanned hand clutching the corner of her book: Tyler's hand.

She had not known much of Tyler aside from him being the star quarterback. It was unusual as Caroline had been on the cheer squad for the same amount of time he had been on his team. She had recalled him describing her as the 'vapid blonde' atop the pyramid. No love was lost there. So, when they had their 'meet-cute' in the hallway after their graduation, the air was rather awkward.

He had smiled uncomfortably as she did, too, and they had risen in time with both of their hands connected to the yearbook. A small 'thanks' had made its way out of Caroline's mouth and a pause followed. Tyler had then attempted to initiate conversation, asking about whether she had enjoyed the graduation and what she planned to do for college. She had certainly never thought they would converse after that day, especially knowing that they would soon be away for a minimum of four years.

She was right. For a while.

During the winter break of their senior year in college, they met once more. It was in Mystic Grill that they locked eyes across the bar on New Year's Eve. Elena had pointed him out. Caroline's blue eyes had bored into his deep brown irises as she absentmindedly stirred the tiny skewer around in her cocktail. Slowly but surely, they had ended up on the same end of the bar, and they ignited a flame that had never been lit in the first place. She had not intended on kissing him on the stroke of midnight, or even talking to him after that night, but lo and behold, that was exactly the case.

It seemed that no longer was he the bone-headed jock but an educated man with a new mind set differentiated from the climate in high school. In the time they had left on their break, they went on one date that turned into two dates that turned into three. Even after they had returned to their studies, they texted and called each other many times throughout the months. Once they were home again, it was game on. Caroline felt like the world was finally becoming her oyster with their relationship blossoming and her career falling into place. Tyler, too, had ambitions, which was something that she admired.

Unfortunately, he had soon become overly ambitious with his ideas of becoming a hotshot politician, even more so than his father, and he became careless. It was all work and no play until he decided he wanted to play. She did not have a say in the matter. Spontaneous picnic? Not on anyone's life would that happen if he was in the middle of something. For all of the complaints in the world that she had made, he did not seem to have a wakeup call. She, however, did.

It started as small niggling feelings when he introduced her at formal dinners in an effort to social climb. He would always forget to mention Caroline as being an up-and-coming event planner, but simultaneously would never forget to mention her being Miss Mystic Falls. Then every time she brought up her job, she would notice him shifting uncomfortably.

* * *

 _"Why don't you like me mentioning my work?"_

 _He adjusted his shoulders awkwardly, his fingers stretching over the steering wheel, "What do you mean, Care?"_

 _She turned her body to face him and held a stone expression._

 _"I mean, you always introduce me as the former pageant queen, Tyler."_

 _The sun was setting outside, the purples and blues ingurgitating its reds and oranges in the mid-winter sky. Their evening had been spent just outside of Washington in a hotel that had clearly been staffed with people who were not told 'less is more' in regards to decoration. Caroline had recently given into wearing things that Tyler had picked out for her. That night, she donned a long chiffon number that clung at the neck with a bow hanging down, a form fitting coat hugging her to match. He had seemed to be taking notes of the outfits worn by the girlfriends and wives attending alongside them. She enjoyed playing dress up and partaking in formal affairs, but it had become too much._

 _They were almost finished making the long drive back. It was barely five o'clock and they were less than half an hour outside of town, but the day had been exhausting. She had suggested staying overnight in the hotel, but he insisted on returning to Mystic Falls so that he could make time for extra assignments in the morning._

 _"Well, you're only an assistant. It's not really going to impress these big guys," he argued, eyes square on the dimming road ahead._

 _"And my pageants are?"_

 _"The pageant girls are part of the whole…system of politicians. You know, with all the community work involved."_

 _His fumbling excuses gained him an eye roll. She failed to see what it was in the title 'assistant event planner' that would sound worse than 'former pageant girl', but, connecting the dots, it made sense. Every single woman in that room, if not a politician –which was far and few between–, originally became involved in charity work through –an easy guess– pageants. While she did not shy away from her pageant title, the women she met were presented as nothing more than that. She would not let herself go down that path._

 _"You mean they're pretty, right? It's a lot flashier to say your girlfriend's a beautiful pageant queen than a girl just starting out as an assistant getting coffee."_

 _"Don't put words in my mouth, Caroline."_

 _The blonde huffed, fiddling with the flimsy clip holding her hair back._

 _"Wow, you're gonna have to work a lot harder with words if you wanna take DC by storm, Ty," she said, her words laced with discontent._

 _"Look, does it matter? It's not like you'll still be working in a few years?"_

 _His shoulders and fingers jumped in time with the defensive intonations of his voice._

 _"I'm sorry– what?"_

 _"You know: once I'm done with my masters, we'll probably get hitched, move to Washington and have kids. I doubt you'll have time to be in a full time job."_

 _"You've got it all figured out, huh?"_

 _"It's not a surprise, Care. You knew this would happen eventually. There'll be hundreds of birthday parties and I'm sure there'll be a couple charity events you can plan that'll keep up appearances."_

 _His rationalisations continued to frustrate her, her cheeks reddening with anger._

 _'Keep up appearances'._

 _He did not even care about what was behind the image. The idea of it alone was suffocating to say the least._

 _"Tyler, I'm tired of this! Every weekend, we're off to some fancy dinner with people who I could honestly care less about talking to! We haven't had alone time in, like, forever!"_

 _"The world of politics doesn't rest, Care."_

 _"Can't it? Just for a second? Let's do something! Now! Let's just keep driving to the nearest beach or whatever and do stuff!" her upper half bounced with the promise of excitement. They had had long periods of alone time in the summer after graduation and even as he volunteered in his father's office for the year, but once he began his masters, the alone time was becoming shorter and rarer._

 _"Do stuff?" he raised a disapproving eyebrow to which she sighed._

 _"I wanna act like a normal fucking couple for once!" she suddenly spat, her cursing striking a chord with the Lockwood boy, "These people make me want to vomit every time they open their fucking mouths!"_

 _"Caroline," he warned._

 _However, once she had started her rant, she could not seem to stop._

 _"And I'm sick of these ugly fucking dresses with these ugly fucking bows!" she had now raised her voice as she tugged aggressively at the floral patterned bow on her dress._

 _"What do you want me to do, Caroline?!" he raised his voice to match hers, his hands gripping tightly on the wheel._

 _"I want out of this crap!" she shouted, throwing the clip that had been secure in her hair onto the dashboard._

 _"FINE!" he nearly screamed, bringing the car to an abrupt stop._

 _With her eyes wide, she watched him huff and puff from the passenger's seat. He did not glance at her for even a second when he next spoke._

 _"Get out," he said in a cool and collected manner._

 _"What?" she whispered, her eyelashes batting insecurely._

 _"You want out? Then get out of my **fucking** car, Caroline," her turned his head roughly to her as he put the brakes on._

 _"Ty—"_

 _"GET OUT!"_

 _Her body tensed and she complied. The seat belt sign flicked on when she removed her belt as did the open door sign as she exited the car. Stubbornly, on the side of the road, she faced him as she held the edge of the door._

 _"You know what? FUCK YOU! You're gonna be a lousy politician anyway!"_

 _She slammed the door shut and with clenched fists she hit against the windows of the car as he started the engine up once more before speeding off without her._

 _"FUCK!" she screeched out into the open air and then proceeded to crouch on the ground._

 _A few moments passed until she realised that he was indeed not returning for her._

 _Tears flooded her eyes as if a dam had been demolished inside of her. Panic had also set in and her body shook as she paced back and forth along the edge of the deserted road. Pulling out her phone from her pocket, she shakily tapped away to unlock it and call her speed dial._

 _"U-u-uh E-Elena?"_

* * *

"What are you doing here?" she questioned the man now standing in front of her door, the porch light's light flickering against his face.

Tyler stood there, hands shoved in his coat pockets, with a sweet smile on his face.

"May I come in?"

She raised a brow at his politeness but slowly retreated back, allowing him to enter. His cologne wafted through the air as he moved past her. It was a hurtfully familiar scent that had her swallowing uneasily. She remembered testing the cologne out in the shop. His birthday had been nearing and she had no idea what to buy despite having made a list of possible gifts many nights prior. After some goading from the sales assistant, she settled on an amber scent encased in a dark brown bottle.

Tyler let out a whistle as he inspected the inside of the house.

"Just like I remember," he mused, turning slowly to Caroline, "I'm sorry for your loss. I would have come to the funeral but—"

Her mother passed in the spring not long after their break up and while his parents paid their dues at the funeral, he was nowhere to be seen. Elena had reassured her that it was likely that he felt guilty of his actions and wished not to tread on any toes. In all honesty, she was glad not to see him whether that was the case or not. It was not until she had spoken to his parents at the wake that she had come to learn of his choice to move closer to his university and away from Mystic Falls.

"Hey, politics never rests, right?" she mocked quietly, closing the front door after him.

"Right…"

"So, what do you want?"

"I thought we could speak."

"The last time I spoke to you, Tyler, you left me in the middle of nowhere," she reminded him coldly, facing him.

* * *

 _"I don't know where I am, Elena," she sobbed into the phone, her hair clinging to the tears on her face._

 _"Calm down," her friend spoke soothingly, instructing her to take a number of deep breaths, "Check your maps if there's signal and send me a picture, yeah?"_

 _"Uhuh," she managed to choke out, taking a moment to view her phone with tear-filled eyes. She blinked away her tears to clear her sight, hope washing over her as she saw the data connection in the corner of the screen. Caroline tapped, sharing her location through their text app before bringing the phone to her ear once more._

 _"I sent it."_

 _"Good, okay," Elena's voice went in and out of the microphone as she checked the message, "You're not far. I'll come pick you up now. Hang in there."_

* * *

"It wasn't exactly the _middle of nowhere_ , Care."

"Don't call me that, you asshole," she slighted him, "You don't get to call me affectionately anymore."

"Caroline, I didn't come back to fight."

He followed after her as she stormed into the living room.

"Then what did you come back for?! Really?!" she raised her volume, sharply turning back to him. He bumped into her, holding his hands out a little to stabilise. He gripped her by her elbows, his eyes willing for contact.

"I made a mistake."

Her blinking was rapid and dramatic in her complete disbelief.

"You break up with me and leave on a roadside over two years ago, and you only _just_ realised that it was a mistake?"

Her words were slow but precise with anger. She shook his arms away, giving him the eye contact he so desired with a less than desirable emotion.

"I've been…careless," he admitted with what appeared to be guilt spreading on his face, "That wasn't my only mistake."

"Yeah? Wanna make a list now? 'Cause I can start it off."

"My biggest mistake was," he took her arm again before she could escape his reach, "I let you go."

Caroline bit the inside of her bottom lip, analysing every inch of his sad expression. A lot had happened in two and a half years that did not involve him.

"I'm gonna make us some coffee," she murmured, gently releasing herself from his grip, "Make yourself comfortable."

* * *

 _Elena banged heavily on the door, the bell on the inside dinging with each hit._

 _"Gus!"_

 _There were some noises of rummaging before the stumpy man appeared from the back room of the coffee shop. Though dark, Elena could make out his figure._

 _"Elena, I'm closed!"_

 _"Come on! It's only two minutes to six!" she pleaded, arms folded, "I've got a crying girl in the car that needs a latte right now!"_

 _The large shop owner stilled but ultimately groaned, fishing for his keys. He turned on the lights as well as the machines and unlocked the door for her._

 _"Maybe you girls should get yourselves one of those fancy coffee makers."_

 _Elena grinned, shrugging. He opened the door wide and she looked back at her friend in sympathy, knowing she would prefer not to reveal her unsightly state._

 _"I'll take the coffee to go."_

* * *

"So, I hear you're still working in events?"

Caroline shuffled into her living room, resting the two black mugs on the coffee table. He muttered a 'thank you' with his eyes on the drinks.

"Yeah," she said with a sighing breath, "I'm one of the head planners at the company..."

"Impressive. All that in a few years?"

"I'm a hard worker. Actually, I mainly work with pageants; I hear they're very important in political affairs."

He laughed quietly at her dig. Caroline proceeded to sit on the other end of the couch, ensuring the distance between them was far enough. She cleared her throat once she noticed her shoes still strewn on the floor underneath the table and kicked them further out of view.

"I deserve that."

"You do."

The silence was deafening as all the questions swirled in her head.

"Why are you back, Tyler? I know you didn't return just to win me back."

The promise of that, while enticing, was too far into the land of delusion for her. He tilted his head back and forth, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. She pressed her lips together; his smile was always something that had her knees quaking.

"My father is sick, so he's stepping down as mayor soon," he confessed, rubbing his hands together, "I plan to take his place."

Caroline's mouth gaped slightly, "He— is he okay? I mean, he's sick so, he's obviously not, but—"

"He was diagnosed with, uh, prostate cancer just the other week."

"Oh my god," she let escape, instinctively reaching to hold his shoulder. She knew all too well the feeling of hearing such a damning diagnosis.

"It's okay. They caught it early," he dispelled her shock softly.

"Still… And you're going to run for mayor?"

"Yeah," his smile warmed and he made eye contact, "My dad's all about it at the moment."

Caroline avoided his gaze and pulled back her arm, "That's great."

"Care—" he shifted his body to face her, " _Caroline,_ I miss you."

* * *

 _"He's gonna miss you," the brunette said in between sips of her latte._

 _The young girl sat in the passenger's seat, curls a mess and blurred eyeliner staining her cheeks, and clung to her cup._

 _"Doubtful," she muttered, staring angrily out of the windshield._

 _"I mean it," Elena said, placing her cup in the holder to wipe her friend's tears, "Years from now, he's gonna wake up and realise he made the biggest mistake of his life!"_

 _Always the optimist with love, Elena was._

 _Caroline sniffled and glanced at her friend, her heart warming up under the care of Elena._

 _"I thought he was the one," Caroline informed to no surprise of the brunette. They had discussed many times the dreams in their respective relationships. Elena was ready for the ring from Damon, but Caroline had hoped that her ring would hold out a number of extra years longer._

 _"Maybe he is…just not at the moment."_

* * *

"You don't miss me," the blonde replied, a gentleness creeping in her voice. The anger she had harboured had slowly quelled itself with the news of Tyler's father. She could only rationalise that his words were merely in the panic of thinking he would lose his father. Wishing to turn back the clocks was something she did many times after her mother's death.

"Let's give it another shot," he encouraged, taking her hands in his.

Her eyes were wide and her mouth was hanging open in shock. His eyes were lit up like his mind was buzzing with the most exciting idea known to man. Although she wanted to act like the past was the past, his planned future still involved a life of political discourse and children within a year of a rushed marriage.

"Tyler… I'm not giving anything up for you; not now, not ever."

"You don't have to!" he was quick to say, shaking his head, "I just want you. I want it to be like it was…before all the drama. We can take a trip to the nearest beach and do whatever!"

Caroline sucked in a breath, his words hauntingly reflecting her wishes that dreadful night. She pondered whether they would still be together if he had only given her what she wanted, or whether she would end up as miserable as she thought she would be without those wants fulfilled.

"I…"

He stood, releasing her hands, "Let me take you to dinner sometime? I don't need an answer now. I don't even need a tentative answer."

She rose from her seat, staring up at him. Her gaze was full of hurt and fear. She was hurting over every memory of him that had flooded through the door ever since he had entered her home, and she was fearful of what she felt in hearing his fairy tale-istic words.

"Just…" he stroked her cheek and she froze at the sudden touch, watching his eyes carefully, "Think about it, okay? Promise me you'll think about it?"

Her jaw anxiously tightened and she stepped back, nodding.

"Yes. Okay. I'll think about it."

"Thank you," he gave a smile, but she avoided even a glance at him, "My number is the same if you still have it?"

Caroline simply nodded and looked at the ground. He, too, bobbed his head in understanding before exiting her home. The door came to a slow shut, the sound of it feeling louder than anticipated.

She was left in the middle of the living room with two cups of coffee and a heavy decision weighing on her shoulders, but all she could think about was the waste she had made by making the drinks in the first place.

* * *

 **A/N: Cue the dramatic sound effects!**

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 **What do you think of Tyler, huh? Humongous douche, right?**

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 **Thank you for over 60 followers on the story, guys! Reviews are encouraged and greatly appreciated!**

 _Extra side note: This story was originally going to be 10 chapters but with the pacing and everything being taken into consideration, it's likely to be 12!_

 ** _Follow me or ask me questions about the story at klarolineagainnaturally on tumblr_**


	10. Chapter 10

She watched as the black coffee poured out in a long stream into the silver mug. Her designated pink mug had been stolen. By who? She could not figure that out. Her sneaking suspicion was of the new intern Rayna. The girl was unfairly abrasive when tasked with the simplest of duties. Taking the mug must have been her way of giving the middle finger without being fired. The perfect crime.

Caroline's eyes were slightly glazed over with the tiredness rushing over her at all times. After Tyler had left, there was a lingering buzzing in her ears throughout the night. She tried her best to combat this with sheep counting and camomile tea, but despite her best efforts, she was rolling around in thought for much of the night.

Eventually at four a.m., she did as expected and, for the lack of a better word, blacked out. Feeling like she had missed out on an entire year of sleep, she awoke with only half an hour to spare before she was meant to be in work. Despite having this knowledge, she took her time in showering and brushing her teeth, arriving an hour late to the office. It was not as if she could not afford to be a little late, what with her impeccable work on a regular basis.

She jumped as she felt a splash against her wrist. Her movement had been a little rough and she had underestimated how much it took to fill up the mug. The silver mug was definitely shorter than her favourite. Freaking Rayna.

After gently placing the pot of coffee back in its place, she wandered across the office to her desk as she sipped away. The place was fairly busy for ten in the morning, but it was nothing to stress over as it was the usual pace of things. Caroline settled into her comfortable padded chair, gently swivelling as she drank the dark liquid. She eyed up a displaced pen, adjusting it slightly before contently continuing on with her movements.

As the chair swung around, her eyes landed on a familiar pink object on the desk opposite hers. She narrowed the inner corners of her blue orbs. Scanning, she guessed correctly when she spotted the floral pattern along the midsection of it.

Caroline rose from her chair, leaving her own drink behind, and strolled to meet her mug just as a figure swooped in to pick it up.

The blonde blinked, "Oh— April!"

The dark haired girl dressed in red held the mug to her lips, taking a long sip of her coffee.

"That's…my mug," Caroline informed her, not wanting to cause a fuss.

April's doe eyes viewed her superior with innocence as she held the mug inches from her lips, "Really? I had no idea."

Still, she followed up with another sip of her drink.

Caroline became a living ellipsis as she watched the girl, then she noticed a chip on the edge of the cup.

"And it's chipped— Oh…"

With a bat of her eyelashes, April pulled back the drink to view the chip before the smallest of smiles crept on her face.

"Must have been there when I picked it up."

"Yeah…" Caroline trailed off as April waited for her to speak with more important matters, "That's okay! Just make sure you wash it!"

The blonde smiled brightly, nodding a goodbye before returning to her desk.

April returned a smile, teeth on show.

 _Odd_. Caroline thought to herself, sitting back at the desk. The girl had been somewhat funny with her for a number of days, but she brushed off, having other things to focus on.

"Caroline, may I speak with you for a few minutes?"

A voice called from the side. It was her boss Meredith, poking out from her back room office, long wavy chestnut hair dangling. The blonde hopped up once more and nodded happily before rushing to the office. Meredith was a wonderful boss to have for her first job. It was pretty lucky that she started just as Meredith had been made the head of their department. They began the next steps in their careers together. It was easy to guess that Meredith had a soft spot for the perky blonde, giving her a chance to co-ordinate her first event. Needless to say, her boss was impressed with her natural ability to give orders.

Caroline straightened her blouse out before entering the room. The door creaked as she opened it and as she closed it behind herself. Meredith adjusted herself in her large purple seat, gesturing for the blonde to sit opposite.

"What did you wanna talk about?" the blonde asked as she sat in the uncomfortable, armless chair. Finding no position comfortable, she sat up straight with one leg over the other and rested her hands on top.

"You know I love you, Caroline, and well, all the work you do has always been more than I could ask for," Meredith started, running her finger in circles on the desk.

The 'but' was hanging in the air above their heads for the longest moment before it seemed to be ready to rear its ugly head.

"But I'm a little concerned."

Caroline stared clueless, "Concerned? Why?"

"I've heard whispers about an…incident that occurred at the Founder's Day Gala."

A frown spread on the young girl's face. She had thought that the altercation on the dance floor was now a non-issue as no one had mentioned it throughout the week. Clearly, as shown by Meredith's mention, it was a bigger issue than she had realised.

"I mean— I can't control what guests do at an event, you know that. It dispersed pretty quickly as well—"

"Caroline, that's not the problem."

"Oh."

"I was told that after that, you abandoned your duties as the co-ordinator and left the event altogether."

Meredith's face was in its serious expression, one Caroline had seen used on many others but never her. She suddenly felt like a child who had been sent to talk to the principal for skipping class.

"Is that correct?"

"Well, yes, but—"

"Caroline…" Meredith said disappointedly, clasping her hands together, "Did you leave April to sort everything out herself?"

Suddenly, the mug stealing and the short responses from the young assistant made sense. She and April had never come across any issues in the past. If anything, April happily did as she was told and seemed to aspire to be like Caroline. She had told her enough times. Occasionally, Caroline enjoyed her company, especially as the girl liked to ramble on about her father, a reverend, being so uptight and disapproving even as she became an adult; she could relate to feeling as though she lacked when it had come to her mother's opinions.

"April?" the girl pushed her head out in confusion, "I did, but—"

"This isn't good."

"I assumed April had it under control. I didn't just leave," she attempted to defend herself, but the facial expressions she was seeing were indicative that she was not helping matters.

"You're an amazing co-ordinator, Caroline, but ditching an event for whatever reason is _not_ okay."

"Yes, I know," she admitted, fiddling with her fingers in her lap.

"You've never had any issues like this before, so what's going on?"

"Nothing's going on."

"Clearly something is. You know you have to be able roll with whatever mess is made at events."

"Of course," Caroline replied a little firmer before widening her eyes, "You're not going to fire me, right? I mean, I'm in the wrong of course but— but I have so much to give!"

"Relax," Meredith chuckled, pushing a small jar of peppermints in Caroline's direction.

The blonde nodded slowly, taking one of the red and white sweets out of the jar, and silencing herself from rambling on as she popped it in her mouth.

"I'm just giving you…a necessary reprimand."

Meredith stood from her seat, pacing across the room.

"Hell, I don't really care about all that."

"Then, why—"

Her boss shot her a knowing look, "It's a dog eat dog world."

"You can say that again," Caroline joked, laughing half-heartedly as she removed herself from the room, "I'll make it right."

"April," she called quietly, approaching the small desk. She pressed her lips at seeing her now chipped mug sitting close to the edge of the table. She inconspicuously pushed it further onto the table as she leaned in slightly.

"Yes, Caroline?" April looked up from her computer, sweet smile on display.

She cleared her throat, "I wanted to apologise for how I acted at the pageant."

The girl's Disney-like eyes fluttered in faux-surprise, "Apologise? Why?"

Caroline held back her confusion and continued to speak, "I acted unprofessionally and I should not have left you alone to handle everything."

"Oh, that!"

The blonde ignored the curling of her own fingers at the girl's intentional ignorance to the situation that had occurred.

"It's no problem!" the dark-haired girl smiled widely, "We all make mistakes."

Caroline bobbed her head slowly, "Thanks for understanding… I'll…be getting back to work then."

She turned, but was interrupted in her walk as April called out once again.

"Oh, and Caroline?"

"Yeah?" Caroline answered, facing her with bright eyes.

"If you want to run off to cavort with some random guy, maybe an event isn't the best place?"

Caroline felt like she had been sat in a castle, dressed in Victorian fashion, hearing the young girl's disapproving words. The reverend's daughter certainly inherited the judgement part of his personality.

"Right…"

"Caroline?"

She turned for a second time, less enthusiastically than she had done previously.

"Yes, April?"

"Your blouse is caught in your zipper."

Her jaw clenched slightly, but Caroline nonetheless nodded in appreciation, returning to her desk to discreetly correct the fashion mishap. She sat in her seat but frowned, feeling that something was off with the alignment of the chair.

"Great," she mumbled.

Her phone began buzzing on the desk. She groaned, wishing not to speak to anyone after the last ten minutes. It was only when she saw Elena's name flashing up on the screen that she did a double-take. She contemplated whether it would be wise to answer. Surely, it would have been a butt-dial that led to her receiving such a sudden phone call.

With baited breath, she answered, "Hey…"

"Hey, Care. Are you free to talk?"

The girl turned in her seat, glancing at April, who pretended that she had not been eyeing her the moment the phone buzzed.

"For a few minutes."

"That's all I need."

Caroline had not anticipated, nor even thought about, a conversation taking place between the two of them. They had went their separate ways after the pageant, and Caroline had, for the time being, been content with not making any contact. She admitted, however, that the music was gradually getting louder and louder, and she needed to face it.

"Okay. Sure. What's up?"

"I'm sorry," her 'frenemy' of sorts confessed, "I went too far on Saturday."

Caroline's lips parted in surprise. There was a lot of money that she would have been willing to bet that Elena would be the last person to apologise, especially considering the insults that were hurled back and forth.

"Well," the blonde mused, leaning back in her seat, "I had a hand in making it go that far."

"No, you were just stressed over the Kol and Bonnie situation. I really should have acted like an adult and left it alone. I mean, I brought up Tyler!"

Biting her lip at Tyler's name being mentioned, Caroline spun around in her chair.

"Funny story: Tyler showed up last night."

"What?! No!"

"His father is sick and he's bidding for the next mayoral election."

"Seriously?" Elena was serious in her questions, "Is that all?"

"Nope… He wants to get back together."

"What?! That's— …terrible. …What did you tell him?"

The blonde could not help but playfully roll her eyes at the girl's enthusiasm masked by a fake outrage.

"I…" she trailed off.

" _Caroline Forbes_."

"I said I would think about it—"

"Oh my gosh!"

"But I don't need to think about it," she said firmly, "The answer is going to be no."

"Caroline!" Elena whined.

A giggle escaped Caroline's lips and she immediately frowned at her own lack of will power in maintaining a coldness with her ex-best friend.

"Am I missing something or have you forgotten how he and I broke up?"

Elena could not respond to that. She had witnessed the path of destruction that Tyler had left in Caroline's life, especially as the young girl spent two days in bed, refusing to come out even for a trip to Gus'.

"He wants to take me to dinner, but…it's out of the question," Caroline told her.

She had had all night to mull over that decision, but even as she weighed the unlikely pros against the cons, his past actions kept waving about like a red flag.

"Don't you want to give him just one chance?" Elena implored her for her true feelings, "He didn't have to go to your house. He loves you."

Love.

Caroline sighed as she remembered his pleading eyes and the grip he held her with in an effort for her to see reason. It was the first time she had seen him looking actually sorry for once. He used to apologise, before their break up, every time he had to drag her to another dinner party or soirée, but they were never real apologies.

"I mean, if you don't want to go out on a date… Why not bring him tomorrow?"

The blonde paused in her swivelling, her lip pouting out of confusion, "Tomorrow? What's tomorrow?"

"I was hoping to invite you last week, but…you know…" she digressed before turning the conversation back, "I know it's last minute, but a few of us are having a gathering at that new restaurant near the main square tomorrow evening. I _really_ would love if you could come."

Listening to the voice on the other end of the phone, Caroline felt Elena's emotions loud and clear. Her stresses on her words showed her guilt over their argument and the blonde felt she could not stay mad after all they had been through. Still, she felt that attending the gathering would be begging for a tense atmosphere that could be cut with a knife, especially with Tyler at her side as well.

"Elena, I don't know…"

"Please, Caroline. I want to put the past behind us."

"Shouldn't we talk it all through though?"

"And walk on egg shells? I just want us to be back to normal, Care."

She had a point. Any time a 'talk it out' was decided, it meant the end of a friendship – in Caroline's experience anyway. Person A and person B would go over every single mistake made and person B would attempt to fault person A more than necessary, creating tension and yada yada yada.

Then again, Elena was never one for confrontation which meant that they had never really gotten far enough with their quarrels to end up in that situation.

"Mm…" she could only hum at the idea.

"And if you bring Tyler…maybe you can test out whether it'll work?"

"I don't know…"

"Why not?"

"I'm…" Caroline pondered her words, "I'm kind of seeing someone."

"Whoa. Who?"

"Just some guy…"

That was a secret she would not reveal.

"Are things serious between you two?"

"I…"

"Tyler might be the one, and you can't let the chance to try again pass you by!"

"Elena…"

"Think about it. I'll text you the deets."

Elena hung up, leaving Caroline to stew in a wild confusion.

Think about it.

Why did everyone want her to think about it? Thinking about things had become a seriously dangerous act for her to do. Thinking about things had made her worry over Elena's opinions when it came to Klaus.

She sucked in a panicked breath.

Klaus.

* * *

Her heels clicked heavily against the marble flooring. The entrance of the building was grand, a visual that she had not expected to see even just outside of Mystic Falls.

"Excuse me. Do you know where I can find Klaus Mikaelson?" she asked as she approached a large white desk.

The receptionist was an older man dressed in a smart black uniform. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Do you have an appointment?"

"An appointment? Um, I'm his—"

She stopped herself from continuing with that sentence. The word 'girlfriend' played on her lips –it even had a small butterfly flapping about in her stomach– but she refrained from letting the word take the stage. For a moment, she wondered what they were. They had not defined the state of their relationship. They had established that it was more than sex, yes, but was it the serious play at love that she longed for deep down?

Perhaps, she was not ready for marriage and children like Tyler wanted, but she _was_ ready to find something final. Was that something Klaus wanted?

She cleared her throat as the receptionist watched her with an annoyed expectance.

"His friend. I'm Klaus' friend. He'll want to see me."

"Our Niklaus has a friend? My my," a flat, guttural voice entered the conversation.

She followed the sound, finding a man sat at the side, one-sheet newspaper held in his grasp. His face was hidden behind the large printed headings of another tragedy in the financial world. Slowly, the paper lowered, revealing eyes laden with crow's feet and rugged facial hair that clung to the stranger's thin face.

He walked, or floated rather, over to Caroline, and the receptionist turned his attention away. A younger, taller boy shuffled his feet behind the man who Caroline noted as compensating for something with his tailored, gold-buttoned suit.

"Mikael Mikaelson," he gracefully held his hand in the greeting position, although Caroline was forced to stretch out her arm to meet his. She felt a slight, yet firm, tug on her wrist as their hands locked.

She forced a throat-clearing as she released herself.

"Caroline Forbes. You're—"

"Owner of this building and Mikaelson Financing, and father to your…friend," he grinned, the devil horns practically sprouting from his head, "Niklaus Mikaelson."

He certainly was not shy about his accomplishments.

"I will take you to his floor if you would like?"

Caroline shook her head, "No, it's fine. I'll just call him. He might be busy."

"I insist."

His face was frozen in a twisted smile, "Tim, the lift."

"Tom," muttered the nervous assistant.

"The lift," Mikael repeated curtly.

The poor boy rushed to press the elevator button, urgent in his repeated pressing. By the will of Mikael, the gold painted elevator doors opened.

"Miss Forbes."

His hand, again, gracefully tilted to allow her passing.

She avoided eye-contact, her pupils darting about as she entered the large box.

"Wow…" Caroline had a good look at the arguably tacky trimmings, "You…have an eye for decoration."

Mikael chuckled and tilted his head in an effort to seem humble, "I had some help, of course, although it is all my design."

"Tim, Niklaus' floor."

Caroline shot a sympathetic glance at the boy before he did as he was told, pressing the top floor button as well without command. She noticed a couple of people in suits lingering around the elevator, pretending as if they were not in need of the current one.

Once the doors shut, Mikael spoke, "So, Miss Forbes, you and my son are…?"

 _Well, April would say cavorting,_ thought Caroline.

"Friends."

"Of course."

She was not sure she would be happy in divulging such information, or whether Klaus would be happy about it either.

"Have we been acquainted in the past? I feel as though I have seen your face before."

For such a big elevator, Caroline felt awfully cramped with Mikael beside her, prying at her for information. Luckily, her stop came sooner than anticipated.

"Your floor, Miss Forbes. He'll be at the back of the office."

"Thank you," she said, oddly feeling like she should add a 'sir' into her sentence and stepped out, "It was nice meeting you."

"Likewise," Mikael paused, the elevator warning for people to mind the doors, "Oh, I remember your face now."

She watched his face twist into that smile again and she felt uneasy once more.

Shaking the weird experience off, Caroline cautiously wandered to the nearest set of doors. The door felt heavy, but she pulled it open with enough force, stepping into the large office space that was filled with many cubicles.

It was a stark contrast to the entrance, and even the elevator, when she saw the drab decorations of the room. She moved slowly down the middle path, earning a number of wary glances from those working, until she had found herself at an open desk.

"Is this Klaus Mikaelson's office?" she asked, holding the strap of her bag that hung off her shoulder with both hands.

A young, golden skinned girl looking to be similar in age to Caroline lifted her head. She nodded but as she did so, she mirrored the same expression of the man at the reception. Not at all impressed. It seemed to be the consensus of the building that strangers, unless important-looking, were no good.

"Can you let him know Caroline Forbes is here to see him?"

"He doesn't have an appointment for a Forbes comma Caroline, and he's busy at the moment," the girl stared, speaking with clipped words.

Caroline swayed, balling her fists innocently as she smiled, "Could you just let him know I'm here? Or I can text him?"

The girl did not reply, but responded by pressing the intercom, "Sir, a Miss Forbes is here to see you."

Caroline waited for a long, uncomfortable moment, smiling widely as his voice finally came through the little box.

"Send her in."

"You can—"

"Thanks," Caroline sang, before letting herself into his office.

She frowned at her entrance. The desk chair was facing its back to her.

"Klaus?"

He slowly spun around in the chair, chuckling, "Miss Forbes."

Caroline rolled her eyes but laughed all the same, "Mr. Mikaelson."

"Actually, I just met the one and only Mr. Mikael Mikaelson. He guided me here."

Klaus' jaw tensed, but he softened it when making eye-contact with the blonde, "Was it or was it not a religious experience?"

She laughed and tilted her head side to side, "It was definitely an…experience. I thought you were the devil when we first met, but it looks like he's filled that position himself."

An uncomfortable laugh left Klaus' lips, "Unfortunate, I know. I am resigned to one of his many slaves."

"Now, I believe you should be in work."

She gravitated closer to his desk, her fingers tipping along the edge of the opposite chair, "I had a lunch break."

"And on this lunch break, you decide to venture out as far as my place of work?"

"I took a taxi," she shook her head in an amused disapproval.

"So then, to what do I owe this pleasure? Looking for a sequel to Saturday?" he teased, fiddling with a pen in his hand.

Again, another head shake was had by her, "Not quite. We should talk…"

Klaus resisted the reflexive frown that he wished to display.

"By all means…" he stretched his arm out to gesture to the seat.

Caroline gave off a small smile, sliding into the chair anxiously, and dropped her bag beside her feet.

"So…"

"So?"

"Um…Tyler— My, uh, ex Tyler, came back last night."

His head tilted forward as he waited for her to elaborate.

"He wants to…give things a second try."

"Would I be correct in guessing you told him to sling his hook?"

Caroline swallowed nervously, "I…told him I would think about it."

The frown previously being held back was now on full show by Klaus.

"So that is it? 'Sorry, mate, game over?'"

"No!" she was quick to reply, hands resting upon the desk instinctively.

"I just think we should perhaps…maybe put things on pause?"

"Pause?"

"Tyler and I have a lot of history…and we— I don't know what we are."

Before he could reply, she spoke onwards, "And Elena told me to give him a shot—"

His jaw tensed, "You spoke to Elena?"

His interjections rattled her and her voice wavered when she spoke next, "This morning… She apologised and invited me to dinner tomorrow night at Rouge…with Tyler."

"Everything is wrapped up pretty neatly for you then, love? Best friends again with Elena and you already have a date lined up."

"It's not really a date—"

"Is it not?"

"Elena thinks that if we—"

"For god's sake," his voice rumbled and he stood from his seat, "Are you ever going think for yourself?"

She mirrored his standing, moving around the desk to meet him, "I just—"

"What is it that you want, Caroline? Hm?!"

The words leaving his mouth spat like acid into her heart.

"I don't know!" she admitted, her voice rising in a panic.

"Leave, please. A pause is not needed for us; I give up."

He looked away. She could see that tears threatened to fill his eyes whilst they had already spilled out of her own tear ducts.

"Klaus," she reached for him but he stepped back.

"Caroline, you're beautiful, but I need you to leave now."

His raging stare met her own fragile expression and her lip quivered to see it. She slowly backed away, wiping tears that fell as she retrieved her bag and exited. It was suffice for her to say that their talk had not gone well.

* * *

 **A/N: Welp.**

 **Thanks for reading and please anticipate the next chapter! Reviews are encouraged and greatly appreciated!**

 **Any questions? Ask me at klarolineagainnaturally on tumblr!**

 **We're in the final stretch now, guys!**


	11. Chapter 11

The Friday could not get any worse. Considering Klaus' actions, Caroline had most definitely ruined the chances of being civil with one another. Still, she felt it was necessary to do; if she had met with Tyler without telling him, the situation would have escalated to something far direr. It did not stop her from feeling like the worst person in the world, though.

After leaving his office in tears, she had done what she could to stifle the hurt pouring from her eyes as she passed the office cubicles on the way out. If anything, she thought, her crying would have given the staff something to gossip about in between their boring work duties. As a teenager, she would have been the first to start the speculation.

Having avoided bumping into a number people, she finally made it to the elevators, and her fingers felt limp as she pressed down on the button.

Caroline had then rushed back to her own office, restoring the flaws in her makeup during the taxi ride. Her time-pushing lunch break had clearly been something that April had taken notice of, as when she had entered through the doors, the dark-haired girl pursed her lips, unimpressed. She had noticed that the girl had taken the intern Rayna under her wing suddenly, scuttling off to the corner to imbue the young girl with the knowledge of Caroline's indiscretions.

Like that, Caroline had seen her very own lapdog of an assistant turn into a monster. She was now receiving serious Jawbreaker vibes, only it was not a murder that sent their working relationship into a spiral. Caroline wondered if this had been the plan all along; one slip up and Caroline was being thrown into the den of young wolves looking for fresh blood. To her credit, April had a lot of ambition and certainly had the nerve to strike when the iron was hot, not that Meredith would ever fall for those tricks – Caroline hoped at least.

Once the clock struck five, Caroline was out of there like her life had depended on it. Meredith had attempted to steal her for a couple minutes for some extra work but was distracted as April swooped in at the chance to make nice with her boss. She saw the uneasy smile that Meredith held while listening to the girl drone on. It was clear that the young girl intended to turn the office into her own court of terror. The blonde, however, could not be bothered with the scheming and games that were festering in that little brain of April's. She had other things on her mind.

Caroline had sighed profusely on her way home, her walk dragging on as she dragged her feet against the rough concrete pavement. As she made her way, dark clouds were brewing overhead, always on edge of raining down on her but never producing a single drop. Thankful as she was to not have to run home soaking wet, she felt that if it did rain, she would have just become a statue and accepted the storm as another addition to the mess that was currently her life.

Another sleepless night had passed and Caroline somehow felt more tired than she had the previous day. She had rolled about, whining to herself about how pathetic she was. Klaus' harsh words rang out in her mind, and she could not get them to leave her be. Why was it that others could sleep easily after acting so cruelly, yet she lost hours and hours to the words of others? Klaus had questioned whether she would ever stop thinking about what Elena thought, and he was right in doing so. However, the real question had appeared to her at five a.m.: when would she stop thinking about what _anyone_ thought?

Soon again, she had knocked out and found herself uncomfortably positioned with a temporarily dead arm. She had been sweating anxiously throughout her sleep, too stressed to dream.

The day rolled on and Caroline was still asking herself the same questions over and over again. Most importantly, she could not decide on whether to attend the dinner she had been invited to, but eventually sat herself up in the bed of disarrayed sheets with her decision made.

She wanted to know what Klaus wanted.

If he said the word, she told herself, she would not go.

Caroline dangled her legs off of the edge of the mattress and took her phone with purpose. She groaned at the sight of the number three on the hour side. Staying in bed for that long had not been her intention. She unlocked the screen and quickly made the phone call.

The phone's speaker was silent for a moment but the ringing tone soon sounded. She tentatively grazed her uncut nails against her thighs anxiously. Her breathing quickened as she heard the low hum of the ring go on longer and longer.

"Please…" she muttered, her pupils bouncing side to side.

There was a crackle as the call was answered on the other end. Caroline opened her mouth to speak, but left it hanging as she listened to the sultry, female voice come through.

"Klaus' phone. What's your poison?"

The blonde's gaze froze on a single spot on her bedroom door's frame. A chunk of paint had chipped off. She wondered what that would have been from. Did she knock anything against it? She supposed it could have been there for days, maybe for weeks.

"Hm," she sounded out as she thought about the damaged paint.

"Uh? Hello?"

Caroline coughed herself out of her trance and with her eyes wide, hit her finger against the red circle glowing on the screen. She slowly moved her bottom jaw around in circles, her bottom teeth threatening to grind against their top counterparts.

 _Screw Klaus._

The dishevelled blonde had made her decision. Hell, he had made it for her. He had really meant it when he said they were done, and his actions followed similarly to those of the past. It was no surprise.

She released a puff of frustrated air and made a separate call.

"Tyler, hey."

* * *

The dark redhead lounged over the top of the sheets, her face set in an amused confusion over being hung up on. She brushed away a single hair that had been hanging loose apart from the rest of her hair, and gently tossed the phone to the side. Her eyes filled with a flame of flirtation when she saw a half-naked figure drifting into the room with an old-fashioned glass of scotch in hand.

"Niklaus," she greeted, fiddling with the buttons on the stolen suit shirt.

Klaus rolled his eyes, unimpressed, slumping into an arm chair at the side, "Please."

"Reserved for family, yes yes. Although, if Daddy Mikaelson were to leave your mother for me…"

"Aurora," his pupils settled near the tops of his eyelids in disdain, his spare hand raised slightly.

"You can call me mother if you wish. I promise to have a kinder hand in punishing you than your father," she laughed sardonically, leaning to the side to peruse through his side drawer.

Klaus sucked his top teeth angrily, and she simply laughed onwards.

"Calm down, big bad wolf," she muttered, pulling out a small notebook, a devilish smile on her lips.

He shook his head and sipped calmly on his drink in hand. The liquid burned gently against the back of his throat. He breathed heavily through his nose.

"Wow," Aurora exclaimed playfully, lying on her back with her legs up in the air as she flipped through the book, "Cute pictures, darling."

Klaus raised his eyes to see her carelessly flapping the pages aside one after the other.

"I would stop if I were you," he warned.

The redhead murmured, unstirred, turning yet another page. At the new drawing, her lips quickly spread like the Cheshire Cat, and she dangled the book playfully.

"Added another tart to the collection, I see," she mused, making eye contact.

His jaw clenched and he rose from his seat, setting his glass on the chest of drawers beside him.

"New lover?" she traced her tongue along her teeth, holding the notebook loosely.

"No. Not anymore," Klaus informed her bluntly.

"Oh, but there's always another chance," she replied, wagging her finger, "Unless…you did as you always do and threw a tantrum…"

The woman deduced that her guesses were correct, as he neither responded nor made eye contact.

"Aw, did you pull her pigtails?" Aurora suddenly suggested, "Shag someone else?"

The muscles in his jaw protruded through his stubbly skin; it was definitely a fresh wound that he harboured.

Her grin somehow managed to widen, "Avec Moi? _Niklaus_ , I am most honoured."

"I believe you have overstayed your welcome."

"Oh dear," she said darkly, allowing herself to slink off of the bed and meet him chest to chest.

"Out," he commanded.

"As you wish," she smiled, brushing past him to collect her things, but not before speaking once more, "Someone named Caroline called, by the way."

Klaus' head turned instantly at the news. Aurora leaned against the bed, dressing herself in yesterday's clothing.

"The girl hung up without even saying goodbye…or hello for that matter; not much of a talker obviously. Perhaps, you could teach her some manners, darling?"

"Noted."

* * *

The radio emitted crackling and static as he changed stations.

"That dress is a lot better than the other one," he commented, "More appropriate for the restaurant."

"Yeah…"

"Do you still like your country music?" he inquired.

"Not really."

She looked down at her silver bodycon dress unhappily. He had come to her house earlier than expected and suggested that the dress hanging on the back of her door was not formal enough for the occasion. Though she had absolutely no idea of the reasoning for the dinner, she had to admit that the new restaurant named Rouge was glaringly sophisticated through the name alone. Still, sitting in the car, she wished that she was wearing the flowing skater dress that she had originally picked out.

Caroline leant her cheek against her hand, resting on the edge of the car window. Tyler had oddly sounded as if he were relieved when she had called to invite him out. It was surprising that he easily accepted the invitation, readily waiting for the details. In their time together, sprinkling even a smidge of spontaneity into the relationship was like pulling teeth and way too 'reckless' according him.

She pondered if that meant he was serious about trying again.

Now, they were sat in the car on their way to the restaurant. Caroline had assumed the dinner was a closed occasion as no one else had mentioned it to her aside from Elena herself. Though knowing that there had been tension between the pair, she thought it possible that others avoided mentioning it for that reason.

Tyler was dressed smartly, as usual. She was amused that he had managed to get his red tie on by himself correctly for once. He had made an effort to open the car door for her and spent the drive fiddling with the channels of the radio every ten seconds, looking at her for some approval.

"Alright," he replied with a muted frustration, taking his focus back to the road. In response, Caroline glanced out of the window at the people walking along the pavement on the square. One lady was stumbling as she made an effort to keep up with her neurotic-looking Pomeranian, causing Caroline to laugh quietly. The little thing was so ahead of her on the map in its mind, wishing to rip itself free from the blue, flowery collar keeping it at bay.

"What's so funny?" Tyler asked, amusement trickling into his expression.

"Nothing," she laughed, shaking her head, and looked at Tyler with a smile.

"Alright, day dreamer," he teased, pulling into the nearest available parking space.

Caroline glanced, turning her head as much as she could in an effort to see the cute animal once more. She frowned as she could not see the dog, but followed up with a small smile at the idea of the critter scampering off into the horizon happily.

Tyler clicked free his seatbelt once he had pulled his keys out of the ignition, and rushed around the car to open the door for her. She was broken out of her daze about cute pets and undid her belt with an awkward smile, stepping out.

"Thanks."

"Care!"

The blonde's loose hairs from her tied up French braid swung as she turned her head. Bonnie was there across the parking lot, making her way to them in a flared, orange jumpsuit.

"Bonnie?" Caroline squinted, stepping forward to meet the surprise of her friend's presence, "You…were invited…and you actually showed up?"

The dark-haired girl laughed and shook her head, resting her weight on one foot with her hand on her hip, "I could ask you the same thing…"

"We made up. You?"

Bonnie smiled knowingly, "Of course. Well, I got a call this morning asking if I was still coming. So, I'm either about to be assassinated or the girl has seriously lost her mind."

"Ladies?" Tyler called, standing behind.

"Uh, go in without us?" Caroline smiled uncomfortably at her date. He nodded, blank expression on his face as he made his way to the establishment.

The Bennett girl raised one eyebrow, surprised, "Tyler?"

"Don't ask," Caroline warned her, "Let's just go inside and drink until I can't feel my face?"

"Agreed," she groaned, linking arms with her now drinking partner.

They walked along the street silently for a moment before Bonnie could not hold it in, "…But Tyler?!"

The blonde sighed, "We're…taking a chance."

"And Klaus is…?"

"Don't worry, Bon; Klaus isn't a problem anymore."

Bonnie stopped in front of the large, black door entrance, her expression serious.

"And you want to be with Tyler after everything?"

Caroline sighed out of her nose, her gaze avoiding Bonnie's.

"Well, we'll see after tonight."

"I hope you're right," she sang quietly as they entered the restaurant.

They did not have to look hard for everyone else; they were sat in the dead centre of the small, candle lit place. Elena was the first person they noticed. She practically shot up from her seat, her red, body-hugging dress noticeable from any distance. They also noticed a very unimpressed Jeremy sat in a suit and tie between Damon and an empty seat.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Bonnie said begrudgingly.

"Over here, guys!" Elena alerted them, waving her hand.

"Don't leave," Caroline winced, tightening her lock on the girl's arm.

They pushed forward even at the new development, slowly making their way to the table.

"I'll stay, but quick question: did they ever figure out how to get away with murder on that T.V. show? 'Cause I'm gonna need some tips," the Bennett girl spoke through gritted teeth.

Their uncomfortable facial expressions transformed into bright smiles when in clear eye-shot of their friend.

"Bonnie, sit here," Elena instructed amicably, pulling out the chair next to Jeremy.

Bonnie and Caroline shared a nervous glance, but Caroline let her slip away from her grasp, watching the girl sit next to the man she had broken up with only a week prior. She then naturally sat in the seat beside Elena and her own ex-boyfriend. The wheels were certainly turning tonight, even in regards to the seating plan.

"Is no one else coming?" Caroline posed a question, looking around.

"Nope!" Elena answered happily, squeezing her friend's shoulder as she sat down in her own seat.

She nodded slowly, looking around at the range of faces sat at the table: Bonnie looked as though she was about to take a dinner knife to her chest; Jeremy looked as though he would be happy to help her with that; Damon looked amused, and Tyler was absolutely clueless as to the events that had transpired the week before.

"Good evening, ladies and gentleman," a waistcoat wearing waiter appeared, beginning to pass out menus, "My name is Jesse and I will be your server for this evening. Take your time in deciding and I'll be back to check on you in a few minutes."

They all acknowledged the young man with 'um's and 'ah's, taking each menu to bury their heads in. He smiled warmly and nodded before leaving them to scan through for their meals.

"So, who wants to order a platter?" Elena suggested, scanning through the dramatically large, red menu.

"I'll order a drink of arsenic if I can," Bonnie mumbled.

"Hm?" Elena lowered her menu suddenly.

"Apple martini," the dark-haired girl clarified for her.

"Oh," the brunette laughed softly, refocusing on the menu.

"I think I'll get that too," Caroline pursed her lips in an effort to keep from laughing at the quip.

"Should we get a round?" Elena made another suggestion.

"Somehow, I don't think that'll be enough," Bonnie commented.

"Like hell, I'm getting a fruity drink," Damon spoke up, proudly insulting the choice.

"I'll have to agree," said Tyler, glancing at the Salvatore, whose response was an untrustworthy smile.

Another unwanted opinion.

Caroline rolled her eyes inconspicuously behind her menu, speaking in a blasé manner, "So, it'll be just for us girls. Is that okay with you?"

Her date looked at her in confusion. She smiled sweetly at him, her nose wrinkling as the corners of her lips pushed into her cheeks. First, he had his opinions on her dress, and now he was dropping into drink topics in order to seem appealing to Damon Salvatore of all people.

* * *

The evening went on with their food being brought out promptly once ordered, but small talk was made throughout their waiting that had seemed to last forever. Caroline was only content when her apple martini and the beef bourguignon she had chosen was placed before her.

"How is it, Care?" Tyler asked her quietly.

"Fine," she mumbled into her martini glass as she sipped.

"I would have chosen it but I don't think they would be able to do it justice."

She nodded, glancing at his meal.

"And yours?"

"Hm? Oh— It's pretty alright."

"Aw…"

The pair looked at Elena.

"You guys look so great together," she complimented them, resting her chin on the palm of her hand.

"Yeah. When did this happen, guys?" Bonnie piped up, content in bringing up the contentious topic.

"It didn't," Caroline answered with a deadpan expression, "We're testing the waters."

"Hm," Bonnie hummed sourly, "So, Tyler, make sure you get her all the way home tonight."

The table went silent. Caroline and Tyler exchanged quick, uncomfortable looks.

"As long as she doesn't cheat on him, I'm sure it'll be fine," Jeremy finally put his own two cents into a conversation.

Damon choked on his gin and tonic, spluttering as he attempted to hide his laugh. Bonnie looked scornfully at Jeremy to which he returned a spiteful smile.

"Anyway!" Elena clasped her hands together loudly, "There's a reason I wanted us to meet tonight!"

They all stopped their gun-toting stand-off to pay attention to Elena's 'magical' reveal.

"Damon and I…" she paused, grinning in anticipation, and took a relaxed Damon's hand, "…Are getting married! Surprise!"

Caroline's face dropped. The rest of them sat with their jaws dropped in both surprise and confusion. The girl had actually managed to get the elusive Damon Salvatore to stick a ring on her finger.

"And I want you girls to be my bridesmaids," she excitedly reached out to tap her hands against Bonnie and Caroline's. Her modest, diamond engagement ring now stood out on her ring finger.

With a brittle smile, Caroline said, "Wow… Congratulations…"

The others followed suit in giving their congratulations. Even Bonnie had given into a genuine smile, asking for details of the proposal.

Caroline phased out of the conversation, a napkin scrunched up in her hand as she watched them all talk.

"Are you alright?" Tyler whispered.

"Um, I don't feel so well. I think I just need some fresh air," she gave a reassuring smile and dropped the napkin on the table, abandoning the table for the exit.

"Sure…" he trailed off as he watched her pass through the double doors. He saw her through the windows and the lettering decoration pacing along the front of the restaurant.

"Where did Care go?" Elena asked, eyes wide.

"She said she's getting some fresh air," he replied suspiciously, "I'll go check on her."

"Oh okay," the brunette smiled and returned to indulging in conversation with the others.

* * *

Being outside was a good call. Caroline breathed in and out deeply, thinking about what had just occurred. She felt a drop of rain hit her shoulder but the clouds above were just floating by, only warning those below of the oncoming storm. At least if she got caught in the rain, she would have an excuse to go home.

"Care," a concerned Tyler pushed the doors of the entrance open, meeting her on the pavement, "Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine," she nodded unconfidently.

Stepping forward, Tyler spoke disappointedly, "I feel like we haven't really gotten to talk and really test this out tonight."

"I don't really care about that right now, Tyler," she told him bluntly, staring into space.

Caroline had seen the vulnerability in Elena when she had told her that she did not think she could have children. She knew that she was not wrong in thinking the girl was devastated about that fact. Elena had then refused to listen to Caroline's concerns about the relationship with Damon, going as far as to accept a proposal from him, someone who would not give her what she really desired. She just did not get it.

"I knew you might wanna protect your pride but Elena didn't tell me it was this bad," he thought aloud suddenly, looking off to the side.

The blonde looked at him sharply, "What?"

"You can drop the act, Care," he replied casually.

"What act?"

"You know. God, I only offered you a second chance because Elena said you were _so_ desperate to get back together, but this is not worth it," he sighed through his words, loosening the red tie around his neck as he faced away from her.

"A second chance, I—? Elena? What?"

Nothing he had said was making sense to her.

He rolled his eyes and looked at her sideways, "Elena called me on Monday – made out like you were on the brink of insanity and needed me."

It had felt like her heart had fallen through to the bottom of her stomach.

"So, I threw her a bone and showed up at your house, but you're clearly deluding yourself with this uninterested act," he informed her further before muttering, "I can't be bothered with your neurotic self, anymore."

There it was. Her heart had fallen completely out of her.

She did not say a word for the longest moment. She could not say a word.

Well, she could eventually.

"Go fuck yourself, Tyler," she breathed out shakily.

He looked up both amused and annoyed, taking the cue to return to the inside of the restaurant.

Caroline did not have long to mull over the twist in events that had just occurred, as Elena bounded out of the doors with a bright smile.

"Care, you okay?" she spoke softly, "I wanted to speak to you privately anyway so I guess this is perfect."

The blonde's eyelashes fluttered as she looked at the girl she once called her friend.

"I would really love if you would be my maid of honour," she announced to her, her smile as wide as could be.

"Unbelievable."

"Sorry, what?" Elena feigned her smile.

 _That bitch. She could not help it. She could **never** fucking help it._

"Did you tell Tyler that I wanted him back?"

Elena was taken aback by the sudden question, but she shrugged calmly, "Yeah, he called me yesterday. I might have encouraged him a little."

"No," Caroline's speech darkened as she stared the girl in her eyes, "Did you tell him I was desperate to get back together so that he would come to my house to ask me to take him back?"

"Well—" the brunette began, but paused as she felt rain spitting down gently, "I think we should go inside and talk about this la—"

"Answer the **damn** question, Elena."

"Yes. Okay, Care? I may have…suggested that," she swallowed uncomfortably, avoiding Caroline's gaze, "Damon and I were getting engaged and you— well, I wanted you to have that too!"

"That's not for you to decide!" Caroline spoke in a burst of volume, her hands flailing, "And what the hell was that with Bonnie and Jeremy?!"

"I just wanted them to realise they were making a mistake breaking up!" she justified herself, attempting to match the volume but instantly wavering.

"So they can't decide that for themselves? And while we're on the subject, I tell you to rethink your relationship with Damon because he doesn't want kids, and you tell me to mind my own business, yet you feel the need to mastermind and control everyone else's decisions? We're just puppets to you, aren't we?!"

"No—"

She began to turn away but could not stop herself from spouting all that was on her mind.

"Oh my god! What is wrong with me?! All this time, I have been thinking, 'what would Elena think of this?' and choosing to ruin things…ruin relationships because of what you say, but you don't really care, do you?"

Caroline's hands were raised to her head, and disgust was written across her face.

Elena's voice shook as she stepped forward, "I do care! I don't do these things for nothing!"

"Then what for? For your own personal gain? So I would have a date to your wedding?" Caroline questioned, distancing herself before continuing her attack, "For a moment…I did think it was because you cared… I thought you really _did_ care about me…so I cared about your opinions…but you don't."

The brunette could only scoff at these accusations.

"You think that if you match-make everyone to death, then we can be one happy, all-American dream? Well, newsflash, Elena: this isn't some magical Disney movie where we can all sit and talk about our perfect married lives all day!"

"You know I don't think that!"

"You don't? Could'a fooled me," Caroline finally spat, "I'm done listening to you…for good this time."

"What?" Elena stood there in her dress, her eyes widened and full of stressed tears, "We're best friends, Care."

Her reminders and tears were no use; Caroline's face was burning red in anger, her feeling unmoving.

"We haven't been friends, let alone best friends, for a long time, Elena," she managed to keep her words calm in the sea of shouts she had allowed to crash out of her mouth, "Have a happy marriage, and don't try to call me later; I won't answer."

Feeling that she had said all that she had needed to, Caroline slowly moved away and took steps in the opposite direction of the girl.

"Care—"

The blonde sucked in a harsh breath, scrunching her face up as she turned to face her one last time. She stormed up to Elena, her heels hitting against the concrete below.

"One more thing: I slept with Klaus. Multiple times. On the night you introduced us, in fact. So, looks like you were wrong about us."

She smiled at the girl before her in a fake sweetness that was laced with bitterness, before finally taking her exit down the streets, the spitting rain beginning to pour down relentlessly.

* * *

 **A/N: There it is, folks. I had the best time writing this chapter! The next chapter will be the last, plus the epilogue!**

 **Thank you for 70+ followers on this story (ffnet)! I hope you're all enjoying it so far!**

 **As always, thank you for reading and thank you for reviewing!**

 **Follow/send me messages at klarolineagainnaturally**

 **ALSO:**

 **tuzin:** _Thank you for writing! I was the happiest when i saw the new chapter! I know you tell us the final is near but I wish you could go on or write a new story. I would read it! :)_

 **Thank you so much! This made me smile omg! I have some news about what's next once this is done so keep an eye out for the announcement chapter after the epilogue!**

 **BTW: I have added a few old drabbles from my AO3 to my drabble collection on here if you've never read them!**


	12. Chapter 12

The door swung open, unapologetically hitting the wall aside it. Rain dripped from her hair as she entered, and she kicked off her shoes to the side of the entrance. A cab may have fared her better than walking for half an hour to get home, but fancying the drama of it all, the blonde allowed herself to be drenched from head to toe. She had told herself that she could leave the paranoia of getting hypothermia or pneumonia to a later date. For the walk home, she had let herself be consumed with fresh emotions as if she were listening to the ballad in her life's soundtrack.

Probably a Britney Spears song, she had concluded.

Caroline immediately took to unzipping the tight dress, almost ripping it off before she had even reached her bedroom. She had no care for the damn thing as she tore a couple beads off in the struggle of removing it. It finally fell to the floor once she was in her room, and she stepped out to kick it aside.

Despite feeling as though she had already had her shower for the day, she was craving the heat from the bath in her home. She slipped out of her underwear, treating them with the same care as her dress before running the tap of the bathtub. The steam that rose from the water had her eyes glazing over in what felt like peace for the first time in a month.

Caroline settled into the white tub, warmth enveloping her and bringing her temperature to a satisfying high. She smiled softly, wondering when the last time was that she had actually had a bath. Showers had been the usual go to within the hustle and bustle of life. She was never one to just let her worries melt away in the self-gratifying heat that poured out of the pipes.

When her mother was alive, a bath was never not an option. She could be running late, but the bath always had a fixed place in her daily schedule if only for a few, fleeting minutes. Caroline laughed, thinking of the many times she had been anxiously bouncing on the balls of her feet for her mother to finish up so she could brush her teeth and do her hair for school. She would hear the water running as she ate her breakfast and would immediately rush to scold her mother for taking a bath when she was aware of Caroline's time shortage. Her mother, of course, would sound an amused scoff before reassuring her paranoid daughter that she would be done in no more than five minutes. Still, Caroline would pace back and forth, disbelieving of her mother's words, which would always be truthful.

The blonde's dry hand reached for a small book that she had placed on the window sill.

 _Eat, Pray, Love._

Elizabeth Forbes' favourite.

It was a funny fact to remember; Elizabeth Forbes of all people had never been about to forgo her responsibilities for an around the world vacation filled with carbs, religion and a saucy romance. She had deserved it, though.

Caroline had found the old thing poking out of the side of a small cubby of toiletries that she had consistently forgotten to clear out, but consistently told herself she would clear the next day. The box was cluttered with shampoos and body washes that had been solely preferred by her mother. She had taken a number of them out with intent to try them for once. Elizabeth Forbes had always forbid her from touching those items from an early age, but now, she was free to use them. Regardless, Caroline had taken two years to finally take that action.

Caroline settled her head back as she sunk lower with the book in hand. Droplets of water had already made their marks upon the inner pages. She patted the marks down in an effort to lessen the damage to the paper. She hummed softly, running two fingers gently either side of the coarse material within the book.

Of course, Caroline had seen the movie about a billion times; it was the ideal escapism movie for her. Getting the hell out of a place that had caused her nothing but a broken spirit and a migraine was sounding mighty tempting. She turned page after page, slightly draining the water of the tub at one point in order to reheat it to the perfect temperature once more.

Gradually, Caroline pulled the book away from her nearly glued eyes as she felt the sleepiness rising in her head. She brought the bottle of shampoo into her hands, squeezing out the strong smelling gel. The bottle told her it was lotus flower and a number of elaborate sounding ingredients. Her mother was never one to indulge in things for herself, but Caroline was finding the one thing she had splashed out on.

Once out of the bath, she took her time, wrapping her hair up in a towel and crafting a makeshift dress from the large, turquoise towel hanging on the metal rack. She padded down the hallway, cautiously taking steps as she left behind trails of water in the shape of her feet. The sun had finally gone down, settling in the midst of the long, thunderous storm. She slowly drew her curtains in, bathing in the nightlight sat on the stand beside her large bed.

Once dressed and prepped for bed, Caroline fell into her plush sheets, grasping contently at the fluffy pillows at the head of the bed. She reached to the side, finally taking her phone from her nightstand.

As expected, numerous messages and missed calls were lighting up the small screen. She scrolled down the tab of unread and unanswered notifications. They began with calls from Elena. Five to be exact. A couple calls came from Bonnie. She thought about returning them, but she decided it could wait.

There was one message, however, that had her eyes piqued in interest.

'Way to go, Blondie. Next time you want to be selfish and ruin Elena's night, a warning would be great.'

A quiet laugh escaped her in disbelief. She deleted the text and threw her phone back on the side, relaxing back with her eyes closed.

* * *

Monday rolled around eventually. Sunday had been spent confining herself to her room with a tub of chocolate-fudge ice cream and a pile of old DVDs that had previously been locked away in her mother's chest of drawers.

'Eat, Pray Love' was the first film she had decided to play. She relished in every scene of the movie, being reminded of the times she and her mother would curl up on the couch and act as though the twists and turns were new to them even after the tenth watch.

She had also spent the free time with her phone kept on silent. Her eyes had wandered to her device a number of times throughout the day, but ultimately she had left it until late before she checked on the notifications. Each one of them was deleted.

Caroline straightened herself and shifted uncomfortably once she was sat in her designated chair in the meeting room. Never before had the curves in the chair bothered her before, but suddenly, she was transferring the weight on one side of her body to the other back and forth mere moments into sitting there.

April carried herself with an air of superiority as she entered the large room, ready for their weekly morning meeting. The blonde held in the groan that urged to leap from her throat. The girl was still an assistant, but her feet were bursting out of her boots as she aimed dirty glances at Caroline. Obviously, there was a promotion at stake in her mind, not that there was one being offered to her as of late.

A shy Rayna fell behind in a cautious manner, a small smile on her face when she caught the blonde's eyes.

Poor girl.

Caroline felt sorry for accusing her –in her head– of stealing her favourite mug. The girl would forever be a little resistant to work in Caroline's mind, but she certainly was not a thief, although now it seemed as though she was becoming the lapdog that April had once been.

A couple more people flitted in through the open door before Meredith showed up, pushing the door shut behind her. She strode to the head chair of the table, smiling warmly as she sat down with her hands clasped together.

"Mornin', guys," she greeted, "We have a lot to discuss today!"

Caroline drowned out of the speech as the past week was recapped along with their projections and notes from finance. Typically, she would have sat in wait to hear every detail, notebook at the ready, but today it looked as though April had that covered.

"So, the big news of the day," Meredith began, her eyebrows wiggling as if a drumroll was pattering in her mind.

"The council want us to plan and run the Mystic Falls' Annual Autumn Festival in October!"

"And Caroline," Meredith grinned, willing the girl's eye contact, "After that fabulous gala, they want you to be the head planner."

Caroline's head lifted slightly at the news. She had completely forgotten about their bid for the festival; it was a quiet, but big deal to their event company. Behind the 'behind the scenes', there were plans to get a handle on the annual event from the time she had been an assistant. She used to get so giddy with the idea that she would one day plan the biggest event in the town, but somehow, she could not muster up the same excitement as she had once had.

Her face froze, her lips downturned, and she looked at Meredith with a plain expression.

"Me?"

Her glance bounced over to an extremely aggravated April across the table before bouncing back to her boss.

"They were really impressed with the event, and they want to see more from you," Meredith informed her, her friendly eyes focusing on the girl.

"I…"

"Meredith," April interrupted, arms folded, "I don't think Caroline should be allowed to run an event so soon after…you know."

The pair looked at April's brashness with wide eyes.

"No, I don't know, April," Meredith said, eyebrow raised, "Care to elaborate?"

"Uh— she abandoned her duties to go and do god knows what and left her assistant to deal with any fallout?" April spluttered, frustration upon her face.

Resting the urge to roll her eyes, Caroline looked down as she shifted in her seat for the nth time. She then looked at Meredith, whose smile was dry. Her eyes looked April up and down before she sat back to address the girl once more.

"Excellent point, April."

April rolled her shoulders proudly, looking to Rayna for a moment of secret triumph.

"But Caroline has been warned about her bad behaviour and has apologised for the minor blip in her otherwise perfect run in this company."

April's pride was extinguished as fast as it had lit itself up.

The blonde had become distracted within April's attempt to discredit her. Not much thought had passed through her mind in the time she had stared at the dust on the table. Suddenly, she wanted to watch 'Eat, Pray, Love' again and drown in a vat of ice cream just as she had the day before.

In the distraction of it all, she had not noticed that Meredith had called the meeting to an end, and most of her colleagues had dispersed from the room.

"So, Caroline."

The blonde blinked a couple times, refocusing on her boss' words.

"We'll begin discussions for some time during this week?"

She nodded slowly, looking off to the side, "Yeah. Sounds great."

"Don't worry about her, Caroline," Meredith reassured her, rising from her seat.

Caroline followed suit, shrugging with a casual smile.

"I'm not worried."

"Good. Now, I will not be happy until I see you get excited; you got the event!" the brunette exclaimed, slapping the girl gently on the arm.

Caroline laughed reservedly, "I am excited. Just a little tired. To be honest, it's completely spaced from my mind this last month."

Meredith simply smiled, squeezing the girl's shoulder before leaving her to get back to her own office.

Caroline sighed softly as she returned to her desk, tapping her pen against the table rapidly. The exhilaration of Saturday's climactic standoff had worn off, leaving her in a slump of emptiness. She was not regretting her actions in the slightest, but she wished for that rush once more.

"You know you don't deserve that event," was heard from the side.

A bored amusement placed itself on Caroline's face as she looked at April, whose arms were tightly wrapped in a fold.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

The blonde rolled her eyes and returned to her vacant stares at her desk. Perhaps, she did not deserve to handle the event. Not because of her indiscretions, but because of how dull the news had been to her. April was at least showing a passion for the project, although it was fuelled by a new hatred for Caroline.

Her phone rang on the desk suddenly.

She pursed her lips, only slightly relieved when it was revealed to be just Bonnie. She supposed that she had to answer sooner or later.

"Hey."

"Finally, Care. What the heck? Why'd you leave me by myself on Saturday?"

She sighed, "Sorry, Bon… I just didn't wanna stay any longer after—"

"I know."

"You do?"

"Well…I know Elena's side of the story, although I don't know how much I believe it."

"And that side is?"

Bonnie hummed for a moment before indulging her in the story, "She came back to the table in tears, said you flipped out for no reason because she and Damon were getting married, and that you told her you weren't friends anymore?"

Caroline knew the situation was serious, but she could not help but let a giggle jump out of her.

"If that's all she said then...I'm going to let it be at that."

"So she's telling the truth?"

"Part of it."

"And you won't tell me the rest."

The blonde smiled, shaking her head as she spoke into the phone, "I don't think I need to. If she wants to tell you the real reason…she can, but Elena and I are done…for good."

"Whoa… Okay, I can respect that," the Bennett girl admitted.

"Can I ask you a question, Bon?"

"Sure. What is it?"

Caroline's head swayed side to side as she let the question form in her head. It hung at the back of her throat in anticipation, but there was no follow-through.

"Actually— you know, never mind. I should get back to work, Bon. I'll speak to you soon? We should meet for coffee one day."

"Oh— yeah. Sure. See you around."

Another sigh was had by the pale blonde as she hung up, her tapping on the desk resuming. Her head was swirling with indecision. The question had played on her lips when on the phone with Bonnie, but she could not bring herself to ask it. She felt like she was suffocating in that office, with everyone circling her as if to say, 'make your own decision, Caroline'.

Caroline's eyes wandered until they landed on the large screen in front of her. Her computer was humming gently as she took hold of the mouse, shaking it gently to wake the screen up. She began typing.

 _Best Holiday Destinations._

 _Top 10 Holiday Destinations._

 _5 Places You Have to Visit in the U.S.A._

Her cursor dangled tentatively over the fourth destination in the list.

 _From the exciting events held throughout the year to the warm nights when you just chill out, you'll never be more carefree than when in this city._

 _Carefree._

The blonde switched applications and opened up a template with the necessary details before filling in 'Dear Meredith'.

* * *

A few hours passed and she was content with her piece of work. She sauntered happily over to the printer, collecting the warm sheet out of the tray. Then, with no time to spare, she knocked on the office of her boss, entering promptly after.

"Caroline," Meredith looked up, being interrupted in the middle of eating her wrap.

"Everything alright?"

Caroline smiled, nodding as she placed the paper on the desk.

"What's this?"

Bewildered, Meredith twisted her head as she adjusted the paper. Her jaw of food hung open in shock.

"I know what you're thinking!" Caroline raised her hands in front of her, "I am so thankful for this job and to have you as a boss…but…I don't think I can stay here for much longer. I can't take on the festival knowing that I'm not going to enjoy it…"

The woman on the other side of the desk swallowed her food, setting the rest of it down.

"Caroline, please rethink—"

"I don't need to think about this anymore. I know what I want now. Of course, I'll work the rest of my time off to the best of my ability, and if you want any help with the festival planning, I will do everything I can, but I have to do this for myself."

Her smile was strained, sadness threatening to ruin her composure. Meredith nodded slowly, getting up from her chair to bring the girl into a hug.

Caroline laughed softly, accepting the embrace, "Someone else will be dying for the job. April maybe?"

"Oh god!" Meredith whined loudly, "You're leaving me with the event management equivalent of every mean girl in a teen film!"

A giggle left her mouth, "We've got three months to break her down if that helps?"

"Don't give me ideas," the brunette mumbled, finally peeling herself away from the blonde.

Caroline smiled sympathetically, "Never—unless it's the idea to give me a great reference," she chuckled, "I should get back to work."

Her boss hid a sniffle, nodding firmly, "Yes, you should! Get outta here!"

They shared a laugh, and Caroline took her exit.

Walking out, she noticed April sneaking a couple of glances.

The blonde grinned at the sudden idea creeping into her mind. She pressed forward to the staff kitchen and pulled out her favourite pink mug, before strutting on back to the black-haired girl's desk.

"Oh, April?"

The young girl raised her head, already unhappy with the blonde's presence.

Caroline smiled sweetly, placing the mug on the desk, "I'm not finishing for a few months, but I know how much you like taking other people's things, and so, I thought I would leave you this as my… early parting gift."

April was completely clueless.

She squinted in confusion, "Parting gift?"

"I just put in my resignation letter. Feel free to make a play for the Autumn festival…if you ever get out of your assistant job."

No words.

Caroline smirked, leaving her to take apart the sudden interaction.

 _That was so fun_ she thought to herself, sitting at her desk to resume her Google searches.

* * *

Just over three months had passed since her resignation letter was given and she was free. Meredith had made sure to throw her a raging party – as raging as an office farewell party could be. Even April had pretended to play nice for the occasion, giving a small thank you for being her mentor. She accepted the thank you, but her smile was a knowing one.

She had spent the evening after giving in her letter making arrangements with an estate agent, and in the following months, she scrimped and saved all that she could. Within no time, the house she had called home from birth was on the market with multiple offers coming in once she had held an open house. The paperwork was a nightmare, but she did it.

With the money from the sale, she had paid off most of her debts and with her collective saved money, she had put down a deposit for a new apartment in the place she had been dreaming of since that fateful Google search. Unfortunately, the area she wanted was definitely a price jump, so she opted for finding herself a roommate. Hayley was the girl's name. They had had a couple video calls to make sure that each other were not on the brink of becoming a murderer. They seemed to be okay on that front.

Then, with Meredith's help, she had lined up an interview with a well-established event company for when she arrived in the city. Needless to say, Caroline was peeing herself mentally over the thought of starting as the new person, but it was not anything she could not handle.

The only job she had now was to get the hell out of Mystic Falls. She had less than a week to sell and pack up most of her things after ending her employment.

"Thanks, Bon," she sighed out in gratitude as she pushed the last box into the moving truck.

The clear weather on that day had made the prospect of leaving a very welcome one. She was excited as she, along with the hired movers and Bonnie, loaded her possessions into the small truck.

"It's nothing," the dark-haired girl smiled, her hands shoved into her pockets, "It's not like you had much left. Did you really have to sell your old radio? I loved that stupid hunk of junk!"

Caroline giggled guiltily, wrapping her arms securely around her friend, "The thing was definitely past its use-by date."

Bonnie scrunched her nose up before holding onto her friend, "You're really getting out of here, huh?"

"Mhm…"

"I'll come visit you, okay? We all will!" she assured the blonde, affectionately playing with her hair.

Caroline smiled half-heartedly, "Yeah."

Since breaking things off, Caroline had not spoken a single word to Elena. They had bumped into each other at the grocery store a number of weeks before the moving day, but they did not speak. Elena had parted her lips in preparation to say something – what, Caroline did not know. That was all. They locked eyes, but Caroline moved on with her shopping cart, smiling to herself proudly that she had walked away.

She had made efforts to keep in contact with anyone else she could. Bonnie was the main rock for her. Although she had never told Bonnie the real story behind the end of her friendship with Elena, it seemed like she had deduced well enough out of whatever clues she could find. She did not mention it, though.

Surprisingly, Caroline found herself getting closer to Katherine. Seeing her outside of the usual group gatherings was like meeting a completely different person. Caroline knew she was a tough cookie, but for the most part, her full personality was reserved when surrounded by everyone else. It was a shame considering the limited time left, but the girl was a breath of fresh air. In the time left together, Katherine had attempted to coerce Caroline into 'slutting it up' to find a 'hot piece of ass' for one night. Definitely a breath of fresh air.

People like Stefan, Matt, and Jeremy were people she had a mutual understanding with. Davina was out of the question, and Kol and Rebecca were people she had made efforts to avoid when she could, although Kol had been popping up a lot whenever Caroline was with Bonnie. She was surprised that the young joker was serious about their relationship. Tyler on the other hand, that was something that she had thrown in the garbage and personally took to setting alight. She could not be happier. Everything was tied up neatly.

Except for one thing.

A small Toyota car came rolling up next to the pavement of her soon-to-be old house, and Caroline felt a pang of sadness. It was time to give up the keys to the house and haul ass out of there. She looked at her watch. They had arrived dead on nine o'clock. It was an early start, but Caroline was on a schedule.

She slipped away from Bonnie to greet the new owners, and made sure to ensure they would take care of the home and make lots of memories. Caroline made a final sweep of the house to check she had not left anything behind. She collected her small suitcase and handbag before walking out of the front door for the last time, taking her time to lock it. Once the keys were handed over, she gave the go ahead to the men in the moving truck.

"All set, Carl," she called out, "I'll see you tonight!"

The burly man swinging himself up into the driver's seat of the truck shot a friendly smile, giving the thumbs up. Like that, the truck was pulling out of the driveway and making its first roll of the wheels in the long journey.

"My whole life is in that freaking truck. They better get there on time," Caroline joked as she met with Bonnie on the sidewalk, bags at her feet.

"Not if they wanna face the wrath of Caroline Forbes," Bonnie said, helping to pick up the blonde's suitcase. She popped open the trunk of her car, slinging the luggage inside as Caroline hopped into the passenger's seat. When she, too, sat into the car and put her seatbelt on, the blonde was smiling intently at her.

"Did I forget to mention how much I appreciate this?" Caroline squeaked, clinging to the handbag in her lap.

"Mm…a couple times," she joked in response, starting the car up, "Please. I was not going to let my best friend leave Virginia without me clinging to her up until the last boarding call."

A playful roll of the eyes was shown by Caroline, who sat back in her seat as they began to move off down the street.

"Oh— Can you make a quick stop, Bon? It's on the way."

"Yeah. Sure. Where to?"

Caroline pressed her lips together teasingly, and Bonnie let out a laugh.

"You…"

"Have a flair for the dramatic?"

"Yes."

* * *

She walked comfortably into the building, her turquoise and blue dress swaying as she headed straight for the reception.

"Hey, I'm wondering if—"

"Caroline?"

The blonde turned her head, a small smile on her face. She recognised the young boy. It was Tim – or Tom, rather, Mikael's terrified assistant. It was a delightful surprise that he remembered her face.

"Hey!"

She stepped forward to greet him.

"I haven't seen you in ages. You here to see Mr. Mikaelson?"

Caroline nodded a little, "I was hoping to. He's not expecting me, and I don't think I'll be able to get up there without playing up the sex appeal," she laughed, "Wanna help a girl out?"

* * *

The elevator dinged, the gold doors opening. She smiled, thanking the boy for his hand in getting her up to the desired floor.

The doors into the main office area seemed to feel lighter. Either they had changed them, or Caroline was getting some serious muscle from moving all of those boxes into the moving truck. She strode down the middle of the office, glancing in a friendly manner at every person she passed by.

In all of the months she had to prepare her move, she kept thinking about the mistake she had made. She had hurt Klaus more than he had cared to admit to her when he had kicked her out of his office. Then she had called only to find out that he had moved on in a matter of hours. Caroline was pissed, but had to accept that she was the one who had insulted him with the idea of a pause. She was wrong, and she knew that now.

The young assistant in front of his door looked up dully at the girl's presence.

"Yes?"

"I'm Caroline...Forbes. I don't know if you remember me, but I need to speak with Klaus," Caroline told her urgently.

"He's not in."

The blonde scoffed and moved forward to open his office door, but was thwarted as the door was locked shut.

"You know that I know that he's in there," she stood in front of the desk, hands resting on the top of it.

"He's busy."

She made eye-contact with the girl, searching her eyes, "I just want two minutes."

The girl shifted uncomfortably at Caroline's defiance.

"Please," she pleaded.

The assistant sighed, "I'm sorry, but he doesn't want anyone disturbing him."

"I think he can spare time for me."

"I'm sorry."

The blonde huffed dejectedly, crossing her arms. The assistant returned to typing on her computer. Caroline's lips twisted in frustration. She just needed a minute to say what she needed to say.

Her eyes wandered along the desk, landing finally on a little rose gold box. A hint of a smile crept on her face as the idea made itself known to her.

"Oh my god, is that Channing Tatum?" Caroline exclaimed.

"Hm?" the girl's eyes tore away from her screen and to the far end of the room, leaving Caroline with the opportunity to take the intercom. She picked it up, the cord dangling as she tried to figure out how to use it.

She berated herself once she had seen 'talk' written under one button.

"What do you think you're doing?!" the young girl stood from her seat.

Caroline held a hand out to stop her – well, it was not like she could knock her out or tie her to the chair, but she did what she could. She sucked in a breath and pressed down on the button.

"Klaus, I know you're in there."

There was silence on the other end, which she accepted as a natural response. The assistant tried to present herself as if she were attempting to stop Caroline, but did not do much other than stare curiously over what she had to say.

She sighed, continuing her words, "I don't know if you've been under a rock or whatever— but I ended things with Tyler for good – and Elena, too. I really…really liked you—I mean, I still— I'm just—I'm done with letting other people make **my** decisions. I'm not gonna let people's opinions dictate **my** life. Not anymore."

She paused nervously. Talking into an unresponsive box was rather daunting.

Caroline twiddled the cord between her fingers, "Look, I know I messed things up between us, but I couldn't leave town without making things right."

"I'm really sorry."

She glanced at the young girl that was watching her intently, looking as though she wanted a bag of popcorn.

The blonde laughed quietly, "So, I guess this is goodbye. Hopefully, just for now? If you're ever in the French Quarter…hit me up, yeah?"

She let go of the button. There was not much else to tell him; she knew she could not wave a magic wand to make things better.

She was about to place the intercom down, but quickly pressed the button, "It's Caroline by the way. Yeah."

The blonde swallowed as she placed the box onto the desk.

"Sorry," she apologised to the girl who simply nodded in bewilderment.

Then she took her exit down the long stretch of the office and down the elevator.

* * *

"It's Caroline by the way. Yeah."

He sat in silence for a few minutes, leaning back in his large office chair. Her sweet voice had come through the cold metal box with genuine intonations and thoughtful pauses. There had been no doubt in his mind that she would never come back to the office that he made her leave months earlier, but there she had been. Just outside of his door.

He had jumped slightly when he had heard his door jiggle slightly, but ignored it so he could return to sketching in peace.

Then he had heard voices.

It sounded like hers, but it could not be.

Then he had heard _her_ voice as clear as could be through the intercom.

He did not know what to say, or what to do for that matter.

Sure, he had overheard Kol's usual gossiping with Bonnie about how Caroline was on the top of Elena and Damon's enemy list. He had then heard about how Caroline abandoned the dinner, supposedly walking home in the rain. There was not much else, though. Bonnie had mentioned how Caroline did not tell her why she had broken things off with Tyler and Elena. She would not tell her. He had spent a lot of time wondering why. He had also spent a lot of time wondering if she would ever make an effort to see him, but brushed that thought away as soon as it came into mind. He had imagined that she was hurt by his actions after their talk. He had to admit that it was rash.

He felt a pang of guilt in his stomach thinking of his harsh words. He wanted to comfort her, and when he had heard about her bust up with Elena, he wanted to comfort her even more.

Suddenly, he shook himself out of his pool of thoughts, jumping up from his seat.

There was purpose in his walking, each leg pumping harder and harder in an effort to race down to the lobby. His assistant Aimee's eyes lit up like two magic orbs as he passed by her desk and headed for the stairs.

He bounded down each step, huffing and puffing to make it to the bottom in time.

One last time.

He had to see her one last time.

He had to see her face.

Her smile.

He needed her to know that he had accepted her apology, and that he was also sorry…and that he really _really_ liked her too.

God. He felt like a child.

Practically crashing out of the stairway doors, he looked around at all the bodies walking through the large lobby. A lot of people were just arriving to start their days, though he imagined that many of them were tardy.

There was a long set of legs in a skater dress, heading for the revolving doors. It had to be her. The blonde hair that flicked side to side with every step she took had him weak in the knees for the first time in months.

He grinned purposefully and rushed to meet the girl before she could escape his grasp. He reached out his arm, pressing his hand to her shoulder firmly.

"Caroline—"

The blonde woman turned around, confusion on her face.

It was not her. It was just a stranger.

His faced dropped.

"Sorry. I thought you were someone else."

She nodded awkwardly and exited through the door.

He looked around desperately, his last hope clinging to the elevator doors that were now opening.

Alas, the hope was gone.

She was gone.

* * *

"Bonnie, thank you so much…again," she giggled softly as they stood at the gate. The ride from Klaus' office had been smooth, and helped by her now clear mind.

"You're welcome…again," her friend returned a laugh, "Now, get on that plane and text me when you arrive in New Orleans, okay?!"

Caroline smiled warmly, holding her friend in a tight embrace. She was sad to leave…but happy to go. To go somewhere she could be free. Not to be bound by others. She could not have that in Mystic Falls. There was too much history for her in such a small town. She needed to do something for once in her life. Something for herself. Without caring about the judgements of others.

She wanted to be carefree.

Bonnie let her pull back, tears welling up in her eyes, "I love you, Care!"

"I love you too!" Caroline replied as she backed away, handbag swinging at her side.

She turned toward the gate, and after showing her passport and ticket, she was through. She grinned widely, practically bouncing down the hallway.

The next chapter of her life was staring her in the face.

She had never been more ready.

* * *

 **PRESS NEXT FOR EPILOGUE + ANNOUNCEMENT CHAPTER FOLLOWING**


	13. Epilogue

The plane ride had thankfully gone smoothly despite the belligerent drunks that were scattered about in small clusters. A group of girls sat with fluffy pink tiaras and tutus ridiculously hanging off of their heads and waists respectively. One would have thought that the costumes would be saved for after arrival, but the idea of travelling to the specific destination was enough to send people into crazed states that in turn were to blame for the tacky holiday 'uniforms' chosen. A peppy brunette dressed in a larger tiara in comparison to her friends adorned a veil over the top that one might assume to have been drunkenly glued on. That was not a far stretch.

New Orleans. The Big Easy. The city of…well, whatever one hoped for. To drink was the usual intended purpose. For many, however, the city was the place to lose oneself entirely and find it months later with a new perspective on life. To some, it meant getting black out drunk and waking up who knows where with no memory of the night before. Either way was fine.

The city was the pinnacle of freedom, albeit known for its crime rate. A questionably sized price to pay for the beauty and fun that came with a place such as New Orleans. The food, too, was something that all aboard the plane could look forward to. There was no doubt that within the span of a week, most people on the plane would be twice the size and hold twice the amount of regrets than before they had boarded.

The intention to go to New Orleans had been there for many months, but it had been hard to get away from work. Things kept piling up and eventually took over completely. After finding the pressure and demands for more cuts too hard to cope with, a rather bitter resignation letter was slapped onto the big bad boss' desk. Snide remarks were received, but it was not a bother considering the excitement that was to be had in the French Quarter.

Yes, it was a few months late, and the reaction to it was one that could not be predicted, but a late arrival was an arrival no less.

It was nearly evening as the plane landed. The stars when seen from the airplane were twinkling brightly as if to welcome everyone into the city. It was perfection. Many clambered out of the transport, tutus and all, and rushed down the pathways of the airport. Foot tapping was had when waiting in line. The bridal shower parties that surrounded were becoming insufferable. There was a lot of talk of getting wasted and…well, something too hot for television.

Walking out of the gate, a tall, smartly dressed gentleman stood in wait. His lips spread in a familial smile, the hands that were in his pockets being removed to welcome.

"Niklaus. I am delighted that my brother has finally come to visit me after neglecting my existence for a number of years."

"Hello, Elijah."

* * *

 **PRESS NEXT FOR ANNOUNCEMENTS**


	14. Announcements!

_WHOA! IT'S DONE! IT'S OVER! WOW! This is the first feature-length(? lol) fanfiction that I have finished in regards to Klaroline and honestly, the first multi-chapter thing I have finished since my last one finished one like...8 years ago? Woops!_

 _Thank you so much for reading and coming along with me on this journey from the bottom of my heart!_

 **NOW! For the good stuff:**

 **If you couldn't tell...there's gonna be a** ** _sequel_** **.** _SURPRISE_ **! Honestly, I could not let that ending be the end of the story. There's so much to explore with this series! I'm sorry to say that the sequel will not come for a few months minimum, though! Eek! I would love to start it this summer but I am going to be ridiculously busy and if I post anything it'll be drabbles or...**

 **Second announcement!** **I am going to post the first chapter to a** **new series** **some time this week hopefully! It's called** ** _Psychedellic Kicks_** **. It's another AU and AH story (of course haha!). It's set in 1969 around Harvard university, filled with hippies and social politics, etc etc. So, I would appreciate any of you reading the chapter when it comes out and telling me what you think of it!**

 **LAST** **REQUEST** : _I really want to do a Q &A for you guys if you guys have any questions about Against the Cards of any other series! So leave them in your review and I'll be answering them at klarolineagainnaturally on tumblr :) __**Ask as many questions as you have!**_ _Alternatively, just send me questions on tumblr, or on the AO3 posting of Against the Cards!_

 **As always, a billion thanks and please leave a review! We got to the end guys! Whoa!**

 **See you for the sequel ;)**


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